History Recap / TheWestWingS01E03AProportionalResponse

* UnknownRival: While Bartlet clearly knows him by name and reputation, when told about Bertram Coles claiming that the President visiting his district won't leave it alive, his response isn't so much amused at the man threatening his life, but more surprise that, of all people, [[SmallNameBigEgo Bert]] is calling him out.

In Leo's office, he tells President Bartlet he doesn't want the President to take his anger out on the American people, and tells him to send Mrs. Bartlet flowers when all of this is over. Bartlet brings up the fact that in ancient Rome, a Roman citizen could walk across the earth without fear of being attacked at all in the certainty that the full wrath of the empire would be brought down in full upon anyone who dared molest one of her citizens, and wants to know why Americans aren't entitled to that. Leo points out they're behaving as a superpower ought to, and when Bartlet brings up past U.S. failures, Leo retorts that ratcheting up the body count won't help, and if Bartlet wants to start using American military strength as the arm of God, he'd better start with killing Leo. [[BadassBoast who promises to raise his own army and personally defeat Bartlet if the President ever goes that far]]. A bit deflated, Bartlet brings up the fact Morris had a ten-day-old baby, and repeats that the "proportional response" is nothing. Leo yells that it isn't nothing, and there is no "good"; [[ComesGreatResponsibility it's how a superpower behaves]]. Leo then adds quietly, "It's what our fathers taught us." In response, Bartlet brings up the hard work and effort Leo put into getting him elected, and how it at times makes him want to utterly kick his ass. As the tension between them is finally relieved, Leo brings up Bertram Coles, which President Bartlet laughs about, especially at Toby getting upset about it. President Bartlet then asks about Charlie.

In Leo's office, he tells President Bartlet he doesn't want the President to take his anger out on the American people, and tells him to send Mrs. Bartlet flowers when all of this is over. Bartlet brings up the fact that in ancient Rome, a Roman citizen could walk across the earth without fear of being attacked at all, and wants to know why Americans aren't entitled to that. Leo points out they're behaving as a superpower ought to, and when Bartlet brings up past U.S. failures, Leo retorts that ratcheting up the body count won't help, and if Bartlet wants to start using American military strength as the arm of God, he'd better start with killing Leo. [[BadassBoast who promises to raise his own army and personally defeat Bartlet if the President ever goes that far]]. A bit deflated, Bartlet brings up the fact Morris had a ten-day-old baby, and repeats that the "proportional response" is nothing. Leo yells that it isn't nothing, and there is no "good"; [[ComesGreatResponsibility it's how a superpower behaves]]. Leo then adds quietly, "It's what our fathers taught us." As the tension between them is finally relieved, Leo brings up Bertram Coles, which President Bartlet laughs about, especially at Toby getting upset about it. President Bartlet then asks about Charlie.

* SarcasticDevotee: The President demands a more severe course of action than the "Proportional Response" the Joint Chiefs propose, because he doesn't want to give the Syrians a relatively mild punishment that he figures they planned on getting to begin with. So Admiral Fitzwallace comes back with a proposal for a high-scale attack against a major airport, promising not only severe disruption to transportation, logistics, and access to medical supplies in the country, but also a likely civilian death toll in the thousands and the very high chance that they will alienate both America's allies and the American public. [[HeelRealization Bartlet takes his point and backs down.]]

President Bartlet and Leo join Admiral Percy "Fitz" Fitzwallace (John Amos) and the rest of the Joint Chiefs in the [[TheWarRoom Situation Room]]. Admiral Fitzwallace says they have three scenarios planned, all of which meet the standards of [[TitleDrop a proportional response]], and starts to describe the first one when the President interrupts, asking what the point of it all is, when the Syrians know what's coming and they've most likely cleared out, so there won't be significant damage. The others, especially Leo and Fitzwallace, don't know what to say to this, but Fitzwallace asks what the President thinks they should do instead. President Bartlet responds they should come up with a response that makes it seem like they're punishing Syria, not just doing the equivalent of docking their allowance. He storms out.

Charlie Young (Dule Hill) stands in the Roosevelt Room, nervous. Josh, carrying several files, and Donna walk towards the room, and Josh tells her what kind of food he wants. She introduces Josh to Charlie and leaves. Josh tells Charlie he's there to vet him - ask about his background - and introduces himself. Josh asks Charlie to sit, but Charlie is still too nervous. After changing his mind about what food he wants, Josh asks Charlie to sit again, to which he complies, and starts to describe the job, which he says will involve being sensitive and hard, with long hours. Charlie thinks there's some kind of mistake, because he applied for a bike messenger's job, but Josh says Charlie's been recommended for the job of personal aide to President Bartlet instead. Charlie is flummoxed by this. After yelling at Donna for a misspelled word in a memo, Josh asks Charlie why he's not in college, given how good his test scores are, and Charlie explains he's been taking care of his little sister ever since their mother, a police officer, was shot and killed in the line of duty five months before.

In the main office area, as the secretaries field phone calls, Toby and Sam finalize the speech, but Sam takes a minute to go apologize to C.J. about being so hard on her before. C.J. accepts. As Sam goes back to Toby, a group of reporters circle C.J. and ask what's going on, and C.J. feigns ignorance. As she leaves, she runs into Danny Concannon (Timothy Busfield), a senior White House correspondent, and she impatiently tells him he'll have to wait with everyone else for the briefing, but he's there to talk about Sam and Laurie. C.J. reluctantly asks him into her office.

* PoliticalCorrectnessGoneMad: Discussed; Josh and Leo are initially a little wary of hiring Charlie for the job of Personal Aide to the President because they're uncertain how the visual of a young black man waiting on an older white man by carrying his bags, general fetching-and-carrying, etc. will be received. Leo consults with Admiral Fitzwallace about it, who dismisses it as a "cosmetic battle" as long as they're going to pay Charlie a decent wage and treat him with respect. It's not entirely hard to see this as the show's writers offering a meta-commentary on their decision to cast the show's first African-American regular as the President's personal aide rather than one of the senior staff.

** When the press is asking why there's so much activity in the White House, C.J. lies and says it's because "Menudo is in the building".

* UnstoppableRage: We've heard of [[Recap/TheWestWingS01E01Pilot Bartlet's rage before]], but in this episode we see how utterly terrifying it can be.

...where Leo tells the staff about Pericles One and the targets (two munitions dumps, a bridge and Syrian intelligence headquarters). He tells Toby and Sam to finish their speech, and tells C.J. to sit in on a briefing and repeats his order not to tell the press anything until they're ready. C.J. wants to speak to the President alone, and Leo assures her everything will be fine. Everyone leaves except Josh, who starts to bring up the President snapping at the First Lady until Leo tells him it's the wrong time. Josh then brings up Charlie, and mentions how much he likes him and how qualified he is for the job, but Josh is worried about the image of a black man waiting on the President and holding the door open for him. Leo points out *he* opens the door for the President, and if Charlie is the right man for the job, they should hire him regardless of the image. Admiral Fitzwallace joins them, and after he and Josh greet each other, Josh leaves. Fitzwallace tells Leo he needs to calm the President down, and tells him the President is really doing fine, he just doesn't know it. Leo thanks him, and brings up Charlie. Fitzwallace tells Leo as long as they pay Charlie a good wage and treat him with respect, it makes no difference what kind of job he has.

President Bartlet goes back to the Situation Room, and Admiral Fitzwallace unveils a scenario that, if they went forward with it, would do what the President asked, but would also cripple Syria's ability to receive any medical or food aid, as well as cause massive civilian casualties; not only that, but the rest of the world would see this as a gross overreaction by the United States for what he terms a "fifty buck crime", especially without the support of their allies. President Bartlet, deflated, asks for a cigarette. As an officer gives one to him and he lights it, President Bartlet asks about "Pericles One", the scenario Admiral Fitzwallace tried to tell him about earlier, and he confirms it'll strike high-rated targets and cause minimal civilian casualties. He also confirms the plan is ready to go when President Bartlet confirms it, and when he does confirm it, Admiral Fitzwallace gets on the phone and tells the person on the other end to go ahead. Fitzwallace then congratulates the President, but he responds, "'Fifty buck crime'? I honestly don't know what the hell we're doing here," and leaves.

* UnknownRival: While Bartlet clearly knows him by name and reputation, when told about [[SmallNameBigEgo Bertram Coles]] claiming that the President visiting his district won't leave it alive, his response isn't so much amused at the man threatening his life, but more surprise that, of all people, 'Bert' is calling him out.

* UnknownRival: While Bartlet clearly knows him by name and reputation, when told about [[SmallNameBigEgo Bertram Coles]] claiming that the President visiting his district won't leave it alive, his response is "''Bert's'' calling me out?!"

In Leo's office, he tells President Bartlet he doesn't want the President to take his anger out on the American people, and tells him to send Mrs. Bartlet flowers when all of this is over. Bartlet brings up the fact that in ancient Rome, a Roman citizen could walk across the earth without fear of being attacked at all, and wants to know why Americans aren't entitled to that. Leo points out they're behaving as a superpower ought to, and when Bartlet brings up past U.S. failures, Leo retorts that ratcheting up the body count won't help, and if Bartlet wants to start using American military strength as the arm of God, he'd better start with killing Leo. A bit deflated, Bartlet brings up the fact Morris had a ten-day-old baby, and repeats that the "proportional response" is nothing. Leo yells that it isn't nothing, and there is no "good"; [[ComesGreatResponsibility it's how a superpower behaves]]. Leo then adds quietly, "It's what our fathers taught us." As the tension between them is finally relieved, Leo brings up Bertram Coles, which President Bartlet laughs about, especially at Toby getting upset about it. President Bartlet then asks about Charlie.

In the Oval Office, the President is going over the speech with C.J., Sam and Toby, but is exasperated because they don't know the bomb damage assessment (BDA), and because no one has found his glasses yet. C.J. brings up an aircraft the President needs to be briefed on, and Bartlet snaps he knows about it, because he read about it the night before in his study. Hearing this, [[EurekaMoment Charlie whispers to Josh]], and Josh says he should tell the President. After C.J. lends the President her glasses and they don't work, Charlie finally speaks up, and reminds the President he was in his study the night before. As everyone looks on in stunned silence. Mrs. Landingham, who gets it, orders another secretary to go to the study and search for the glasses, and Josh tries to introduce Charlie to President Bartlet, but Bartlet testily replies he doesn't have time to meet any new people now. At that point, Leo, finally having had enough, asks the President for a minute and escorts him away.

* WhamLine: Charlie revealing why he isn't in college despite being an outstanding student.

* ShoutOut: When the press is asking why there's so much activity in the White House, C.J. lies and says it's because "Menudo is in the building".