Bartlet's Roush Obsession Ignites Staff Friction
Plot Beats
The narrative micro-steps within this event
Bartlet reveals his obsession with Elliot Roush's rising poll numbers in a local school board race, dismissing C.J.'s concerns about the race's insignificance.
Bartlet passionately defends the importance of local elections, arguing they shape national governance, while C.J. reminds him of their current responsibilities in the White House.
Leo and Zoey enter, and Bartlet immediately updates them on Roush's poll numbers, showing his inability to drop the issue despite Leo's dismissive advice.
Bartlet's frustration peaks as he recounts his personal investment in the school district, clashing with Leo's pragmatic suggestion to ignore Roush.
Bartlet dismisses both C.J. and Leo's concerns, revealing the depth of his fixation on Roush by detailing his personal history with the school district.
Zoey attempts to shift the conversation to Charlie, indicating her own personal concerns, but Bartlet remains preoccupied with the school board race.
Who Was There
Characters present in this moment
hesitant
entering with Leo, responding to Bartlet about talking to him, requesting to speak about Charlie after others leave
- • discuss Charlie with her father
Concerned pragmatism laced with amusement turning to urgent resolve
C.J. stands at the bed's end challenging Bartlet's obsession with Roush's polls, updates him on a call, motions Leo to wait, exits with him, then outside probes Leo on media aftermath stories before reacting to her beeper and dialing a phone.
- • Redirect Bartlet to midterm priorities
- • Gauge Leo's stance on media participation
- • Local races pale against national governance
- • Media exploitation risks ethical pitfalls
Neutral composure in service role
Steward enters the bedroom bringing breakfast tray for Bartlet at the scene's start, providing routine amid the intensifying political confrontation.
- • Deliver President's morning meal
- • Maintain seamless domestic support
- • Routine sustains leadership amid chaos
- • Discretion preserves presidential privacy
Hesitant vulnerability amid familial tension
Zoey enters with Leo, responds hesitantly to Bartlet's query about talking, declines amid his mood, and later requests to discuss Charlie once staff exit.
- • Secure private talk with father about Charlie
- • Gauge Bartlet's mood for approach
- • Personal relationships need protection post-trauma
- • Father's distraction signals deeper stress
obsessed and frustrated
sitting on the bed with a phone to his ear, obsessively discussing Elliot Roush's 46% poll surge in the school board race, commissioning polls, arguing its national threat, dismissing staff concerns, eating breakfast, and rebuffing Zoey
- • emphasize the threat posed by Elliot Roush's local election success as erosion of governance
- • continue obsession with Roush consistent with prior continuity
significantly referenced as the school board candidate polling at 46%, subject of Bartlet's obsession and personal history
- • implied pursuit of school board seat, threatening local governance per Bartlet
referenced by Zoey as the topic she wants to discuss with Bartlet
Objects Involved
Significant items in this scene
Brought by the steward into the bedroom, the breakfast anchors Bartlet's morning ritual as he sits on the bed phone in hand then moves to the settee to eat amid Roush tirade; it symbolizes insistent normalcy clashing with political fixation, steam and aroma underscoring domesticity against Oval distractions.
Location Details
Places and their significance in this event
Just outside the bedroom door, this liminal hallway space hosts C.J. and Leo's brief exchange on fundraising calls and media aftermath stories, interrupted by her beeper; it transitions from intimate presidential confrontation to outer operational urgency, heightening tension via proximity to private recovery.
Organizations Involved
Institutional presence and influence
The Board of Education looms as the battleground for Bartlet's fury over Elliot Roush's 46% poll surge in a 1100-student district, framed as insidious entry point for national threats via local control erosion; Bartlet commissions polls, links it to daughters' upbringing, elevating this micro-race amid midterm strategy.
Narrative Connections
How this event relates to others in the story
"Bartlet's personal history with Roush is recalled when he reveals the tactic he used to defeat Roush years earlier during the Jenna Jacobs confrontation."
"Bartlet's personal history with Roush is recalled when he reveals the tactic he used to defeat Roush years earlier during the Jenna Jacobs confrontation."
"Bartlet's obsession with the Elliot Roush school board race is consistent throughout, culminating in his discussion with C.J. about it."
"Bartlet's obsession with the Elliot Roush school board race is consistent throughout, culminating in his discussion with C.J. about it."
Key Dialogue
"BARTLET: "All they have to do is, bit by little bit, get themselves on the Boards of Education and city councils. 'Cause that's where all the governing that really matters to anybody really happens.""
"BARTLET: "I have 3 daughters who grew up in that school district.""
"BARTLET: "This is real and a man, who makes the Spanish Inquisition look like a Barbara Walters Special, is now polling at 46% in your school district, for which I have personally baked things to raise money.""