"Previously on The West Wing..." "I've got a guy who says he wants to come to a peace table, and I've got a table." "What's the President doing, Leo, a summit?" "Not today, okay, Toby?" "I got enough problems." "Members of Congress were killed, Mr. President." "Instead of seeking justice, you're inviting them to play dodgeball." " Leo still down here?" " Yeah, he's in his office." "Why isn't he up at Camp David?" "When are you planning to discuss Jerusalem?" " That'll be the last thing." " Because it's the only..." "Damn it, don't you think I know that?" "!" "You want me to start something that may have serious repercussions on American foreign policy for decades!" " It's the appropriate, balanced..." " Tell me how this ends, Leo!" "My counsel is no longer of use to you." "I'll need your successor in place before you leave." "I'm pleased to announce that this afternoon at 2:00" "Prime Minister Zahabi, Chairman Farad and President Bartlett will hold a joint press conference in the rosegarden to describe a tentative accord that's been reached between the parties." "Think the President should address a joint session of Congress?" "On the phone." "He should address them on the phone?" "No, I'm on the phone." "Yeah, Signal, try Mr. McGarry again, It's urgent." "My fellow Americans, please deposit 50 cents for three more paragraphs." "When he comes back from Camp David, they're gonna have to welcome him like a conquering hero." "No, operator, if-if his battery was dead, it wouldn't..." "Yes, it's still urgent." "I already tried him five times." "We're signing a peace accord in four hours, his cell phone should be stapled to his forehead." "Maybe he's at Foggy Bottom." "Yeah." "Signal, try Leo McGarry again and try the secretary's office at State." " Peace in our time." " All downhill from here." "So much for savouring the moment." "The Republican leadership's in the Roosevelt Room." "They've been waiting 20 minutes." " Waiting why?" " They have a meeting with Leo." " I can't find him anywhere." " You can't find him?" "Mr. Speaker, Mr. Majority Leader." "We're taking this meeting." "Leo's got a thing at Foggy Bottom." "He's got a thing?" "Yeah, who knows why he'd be busy-- it's not like we brokered a major peace deal last night." "Don't get me wrong, you guys are doing great work on the soy-based fuel subsidy." "What Josh means is..." "Maybe he means someone's got to pay for 20,000 peacekeepers to enforce your peace deal, and the money's not coming out of the soy-based fuel subsidy." "Due respect-- you never thought we'd get a deal, and we did." "They're gonna be scraping faces off Mount Rushmore." "It's a news roadblock." "There's no use honking your horn." "What Josh, uh, is trying to say..." "Enjoy your roadblock, which'll last a day, maybe two, 'cause then the story goes to Congress and whose kids are gonna serve and who's gonna pay, and I don't have to honk." "I'll repave the road." "If you called this meeting to talk about..." "We called this meeting to talk about a tax cucut." "A tax cut." "A $300 expansion of the child tax credit." "We scheduled this with Leo more than a week ago." "Well, nowe have a peace to keep." "The one you made by appeasing terrorists who're gonna come right back with badly wired pipe bombs." "Okay, I think badly wired's the good kind." "Have you seen the deficit projections?" "If we do tax cuts on top of peacekeeping, we'll drown in red ink." "You're talking about an open-ended deployment with no exit strategy." "We're giving you a way to grease the skids." "Help us pass a tax cut, then we'll vote on peacekeeping." "You're trying to derail the peace plan." "We're trying to help families raise their kids." "Makes perfect sense in Peoria." "Peoria doesn't have a budget deficit." "You expect the President to sign this?" "And get us 60 Democratic votes in the House to guarantee passage and make sure Democrats can't attack us for it later." "Thanks." "Signal's still trying to reach Leo." "Thank you." "And let's get a little flowchart going." "State calls the foreign ministers;" "I call the heads of state." "Like tag-team wrestling without the body slams." "All set to pile-drive Germany, sir." "Thank you." "I want to round up as much international support as we can before the 2:00 peace signing." "The minute the peace plan gets through the Hamas leadership, the Knesset is gonna take up the debate..." "We have a problem with our own leadership, sir." "The Republicans want a tax cut before they vote on peacekeeping." "I'm surprised they didn't wear ski masks and ask for it in a brown paper bag." "Apparently, Leo knew about this." "Okay." "We haven't been able to reach him." "We need this vote, sir-- if it means choking down a tax credit..." "I think we should wait for Leo." "What is it?" "Barracks Security found Leo in the woods at Camp David." "They think it's a massive heart attack." "They're flying him to Bethesda Naval right now." "He was unconscious for a long time." "It's a miracle he has brain function." "Every minute damages the heart muscle more." "What kind of damage?" "They don't know yet." " Will they operate?" " They don't know yet." "These are supposed to be the best thoracic surgeons in the world." "What the hell do they know?" "That time is muscle, Jed." "They're going to do everything they can." "Look, there's no point in everyone going." "He's gonna be out for hours." "Charlie can call back with any updates." "Should we be thinking about postponing the peace signing?" "No." "I'll be back in time." "Should we work out some..." "A quick vote on peacekeeping, and a big show of international support." "A Security Council resolution would be ideal." "Hold the elevator." "Thank you." "Balloon angio was aborted." "He got three migs of morphine." "We'll give him two more." "Thoracic team's scrubbing in." "Mr. McGarry, do you understand me?" "You have near total blockage in two of the main arteries to your heart." "Dr. Karnow's one of the best heart surgeons in the Northeast." "We should be at the hospital." " Yeah." " You know, he looked pale last night." "I just thought it was a White House tan." "Could we never use that expression again?" "He should've paced himself more." "This isn't a guy who treats his body like a temple." "All right, no Leo." "We'll be lucky to get the President back for the signing." "Let's get organized." "The NSC's handling the signing ceremony." "Remarks are done." "Legislative Affairs is making notification calls." "Carol says you're having an interagency meeting on homelessness and mental health?" " I was." " That's a good idea." "I pushed it back." "Look, we're in the middle of an intersection without a traffic cop." "If we want, we can run things through me." "If we want?" "I'm talking about a process." "And if we want to sacrifice livestock in your name...?" "Fine, a decision-making tree." "How about you be the Communications Director;" "you be the Deputy Chief of Staff." "We can use the old barn for a stage." "How do I tell the press about Leo?" "Just put out a statement-- there's too much we can't answer." "Yeah." "What matters most in the next 72 hours is showing that the peace accord can hold." "In other words, a tax cut." "Are we free-associating?" "The leadership wants 60 Democratic votes for a tax cut." "Or no vote on peacekeeping." "Which makes it hard to build a coalition." "And scrape faces off Mount Rushmore." "But it makes perfect sense in Peoria." "And yet here we are, far from Peoria and far from making any sense." "I'll put out that statement." "Okay, start with ranking Democrats on Ways and Means." "They can deliver 30, 40 votes right off the bat." "No specifics, okay?" "We're just jacking up a tax credit that's already on the books." "Carol, call State, let's try to get statements endorsing the peace plan from every member of the UN Security Council." "If we get them all, it could make a Security Council resolution seem like a done deal." "We've already got Germany, Japan and Bulgaria." "State's sending them as they get them." "Great." "You might want to start gathering statements from Security Council members, build momentum toward that resolution." "We can tell the President it was your idea." "Thanks." "Hey, why don't you work with State, bundle together any public statements from members of the Security Council." "I got your back on this." "My back gets your back." "This day's gonna be an absolute nightmare." "What were the indications for bypass as opposed to a PTCA?" "Lesion's too extensive." "He was in profound cardiogenic shock." "Saphenous grafts?" "The internal mammary isn't viable." "How long till he's off the pump?" "Three hours, maybe more." "Three hours." "Yeah, he was down a long time." "Time being muscle." "Yes, sir." "I'll come back when I have more." "Thank you." "Hey." "I'm gonna be gone for about an hour." "Call me if you hear anything, okay?" "State's already got draft language for a Security Council resolution." "Yeah, I heard Russia's on board." "But Indonesia's threatening to vote against it, and Turkmenistan's banging on cans for no reason I can fathom." "Don't comment on Turkmenistan;" "don't even say the name." "Why not?" "Their president's looney tunes." "He created a holiday for his favorite melon." "A holiday for a melon?" "He mandated that the Turkmen people gnaw on bones like dogs to strengthen their teeth-- he's nuts." "Well, he's got a Security Council vote as a chew toy." "Turkmenistan's taking its turn as a rotating member." "Ignore him-- he'll fall in line." "Where are you going?" "Meet Donna's plane at Andrews." "Anyone who says these jobs don't come with a cost..." "Yeah." "Look at you." "What?" "Leo's having his chest cracked open, and all morning you've been headed toward a high-fructose coma." "I just eat this stuff when it's lying around." "Which is all the time." "You know what?" "Do me a favor, 'cause I'd like to see you live past the age of 12." "Stay off junk for the rest of the week-- see if you can survive on, you know, food-- and I'll cook you dinner this weekend." "Wearing an apron and one of those floppy hats?" "Wearing anything you like." "I mean..." "You know perfectly well what I mean." "You're on." "Piece of cake." "According to excerpts made available by the White House, the President will declare that" ""peace, so long within our sight, is now within our grasp."" "Many believe that the Camp David summit was a fool's errand to begin with, tilting at historical windmills..." "Stress actually restricts the flow of blood through the coronary arteries." "What I'm saying is, it's physiological." "Unless you wanted him meditating his way through intelligence briefings and sleeping in a flotation tank, there's nothing you did..." "I fired him." "What?" "Last night at Camp David, I fired him." "What does that do to the flow of blood?" "...and push my homelessness meeting to tomorrow." "The President did a great thing at Camp David." "Yeah." "Any news on Leo?" "They're trying to stabilize his pressure." "What does that mean, exactly?" "No idea, but I wish they'd do it to me." "Congressman, I know you've got a big bloc of Democratic votes on Ways and Means, and you probably think the timing of this child tax credit is a bit silly." "I don't think it's silly in the least." "We're asking our constituents to support a huge troop deployment." "We ought to give them something first." " How's $300?" " Sold." "Free wrapping at the counter." "As many Democrats as you can deliver." "We'll release the names today." "How many children will be eligible for this expanded credit?" "Same as the current tax code-- income phase-out at 110K..." "No, how many children per family?" "How many you got?" "The deficit hawks are talking about capping the number of eligible kids." " Promise me we won't." " We'll leave that to Congress." "And what does the President say to the parents who are on their seventh, eighth child?" ""Try renting a movie sometime"?" "The Republicans'll say any disincentive to have kids is two steps short of government-ordered abortion." "You want us to look anti-family?" "It's crazy when we're gonna need $50, $60 billion for peacekeeping." "Just crazy." "I agree, Congressman, but the leadership isn't gonna authorize peacekeeping without something to grease the skids." "Fine." "Just go easy on the grease." "Not too much grease." "We've already got an income cutoff." "What more can we do?" "Put a cap on the number of kids per family at three or four." "Congressman, only a tiny fraction of families has more than four kids." "It sends a message about social responsibility as well as fiscal." "Social and fiscal." "We'd prefer to leave the details to Congress." "Peacekeeping's going to explode the deficit." "We should, uh, subsidize every Rube Goldberg's reproductive glands?" "They're opening the Qalandia checkpoint in Jerusalem." "I'll need more on that." "And check in with the hospital again." "They've started the bypass." "We won't know anything for a couple hours." "Just make sure they haven't had a power outage." "What's next?" "You've got a few minutes before NSA." "Josh is in with House Democrats, if you want to sit in." "Nah, I'm fine." "Social engineering... it's just not a priority." "I wasn't pushing that." "I just threw it out as a suggestion." "I don't think that..." "You know we're open to whatever reasonable solution you can come up with." "...may not be popular to say it, but this is an information age-- we need quality, not quantity." "Thanks." "Excuse me, Congressman, it's just that..." "Josh... is diabetic, and I haven't had any lunch." "Anything new?" "The damage was pretty severe." "They had to restart his heart when they took off the clamp." "I need to see the President before he goes back to the hospital." " He's in with Wil." " Why is he in with Will?" " He wanted to see Will." " Well, I want to see him." "I'll try." "He won't be here long." "I heard you finished your courses." "You're done at Georgetown." "I've still got some requirements." "Besides courses?" "A swim test, stuff like that." "Ah." "Well, let me know when Will paddles back to the shallow end." "Syria wishes the Golan Heights had been on the table." "And Holland wishes little rounds of gouda had been on the table-- life's full of disappointments." "My sources say congressional leaders have concerns about the peace plan." "Well, my sources-- the major networks-- have shown them trashing it for days, so I can't say that's a surprise, but we're working with them now." " Any word on Leo?" " Still in surgery." "That's all I have." "Thanks, C.J." "So is it gonna be Josh or Toby?" "What?" "The new White House Chief of Staff." "Gee, C.J., I'm sorry your boss and dear friend is sprawled across an operating table having his veins harvested, but I do think it's kind of neat the President single-handedly forged a major peace deal." "Why don't I write about it till my typewriter's tangled up in ribbon?" "All done?" "Unless I'm playing both parts, yes." "Well, jeepers, Brock, you care about Leo, too, but there's a power vacuum here, and your editors don't take puff pieces, and you haven't owned a typewriter since the Coolidge administration." "I would never say "jeepers."" " Would, too." " Would not." " Would, too." " Would not, and we're riding one of the best press waves of this Presidency." "The words "Nobel Peace Prize" were in two separate wire stories, so I don't have to play your game of inside baseball today." " What's Leo's prognosis?" " Good." "In the middle of a bypass, you have no way of knowing that." "Then why'd you ask?" "Because we're talking about the virtual co-President, and you can't tell me who's running the place in his absence." "The President's running it." "How many hours did he spend at the hospital this morning?" "He's cleared his afternoon schedule." "Does that mean he's going back?" "The Israeli and Palestinian delegations are at Andrews." "The President's finished his public schedule." "C.J., I can hold off my editors for a day, maybe two, but pretty soon we're gonna have to know who's filling his shoes." "Don't worry, Mr. Prime Minister, Congress is going to schedule a vote." "Yes, sir." "I appreciate your help." "Thank you." "I'll do the rest of these from Bethesda." "You sure I can skip the reception?" "Delegations are gone" " NSC says it's fine." "Okay." "Sir, I've never been prouder to work here than I was this afternoon, when the Chairman and the Prime Minister shook hands, and you..." "Watched them shake hands." "Leo would be proud, too." "Will be proud." "He had his reservations about all this." "I'm not saying it won't blow up in your face." "Sir?" "I'll pack up everything and meet you at the hospital." "Okay." " Anything from..." " No." "This, uh, tax bill we're working on for the leadership..." "Just get us a vote on peacekeeping." "Some of the deficit hawks want us to cap the number of kids." "I'm thinking four, but, then, you stopped at three." "That's probably a barrelful." "Let me know when you get a vote." "You know, if you want someone working out of Leo's office... just to... shout if you need anything..." "I'll let you know when we got a vote." "Thank you." "How was your meeting with the President?" "He asked me to pitch in." "I'm surprised he didn't pitch a tent." "Can we do some business before we head to the hospital?" "Lebanon's come out against the accord, now France may oppose a Security Council resolution until Congress acts." "They don't want to get stuck doing all the peacekeeping." "The President of Turkmenistan's saying he flipped Lebanon." "He's lying." "We should throw an elbow." "This is some nutbag dictator-of-the-week begging for surplus rutabagas." "And you, my friend, are a bounder and a cheat." "You tried to entrap me with those brownies." "I didn't put those there, but if you want traps, mine have metal jaws." "Folks, the President wants a unanimous Security Council vote." "We've lost three countries in the last hour and both our diplomatic heavies are in a cardiac ward." "So, we tell State to lean on France, slap a tariff on baguettes, squeeze 'em with everything we got." " That'll do." " Good idea." "Except, the Secretary's not returning my calls right now." " Me, too." " Me neither." "Do we have 60 votes on this tax cut?" "Some Congressional action would really help." " I got 23." " I got 27, plus the Whip's making calls." "I'll get us home." "I had to promise not to cap the number of kids, as if anyone in their right mind would want to..." "Capped at four." "I just told the deficit hawks we would." "You weren't supposed to negotiate specifics." "And you were?" "!" ""No cap" doesn't count as a specific?" "!" "When did we become the Chinese population bureau?" "I forgot this was the free love clinic." "Let me go get my kaftan." "There better be 23 votes hidden in that lining..." "Okay, okay-- what if we get Treasury to crank out a quick estimate?" "This cap might not save much anyway, maybe Josh can woo back his 27 without losing your 23." "I'll call the Office of Tax Analysis at Treasury." "You'd better look for more votes in case that doesn't work." "Leo's office got meeting requests from a couple of back-benchers." "Well, call 'em off the bench, and find more benches." "What about Turkmenistan?" "It's a nation of Labradors run by Zeppo Marx." "Can we please stop talking about Turkmenistan?" "Five hours he's been on the pump, you blanched at three." "What can I say?" "Five is more than three." "I don't want you to sugarcoat this." "If I knew how, I would." "Mr. President, Mrs. Bartlet." "Toby." "We're still waiting." "Mallory told us downstairs." "Sir, may I have a moment of your time?" " About tomorrow's schedule." " I'm staying here." "All day." "I don't know, Toby, there are a few variables floating around." "Sir, you have to name an interim Chief of Staff." "Leo is my interim Chief of Staff." "For two days, for two weeks, especially if you're going to be..." "He's been in surgery five hours." "You want to walk in and take his car keys?" "No, sir, and I care about his surgery, but we're fumbling the tax bill, our diplomatic strategy is a..." "is a game of telephone and these are the things we're spending time on." "Read the coverage." "We're doing fine." "Today, sure, and the second-day story's how you pulled it off." "But the third-day story is that Congress doesn't want to pay, that our coalition's fraying, that the spokes are coming off the wheel..." "It's a couple of days." "This was totally unexpected." "No, it wasn't." "Not with Leo's history with alcohol, with pills." "Mr. President surely you had a process in place." "Not for this, and I'm not having this conversation here." "You think we'd even be doing this without him?" "No, sir, but Leo is one person." "And there's 290 million more and they come first." "They finished the bypass." "His heart won't function without the machines." "They'll try again in a few hours." "We have to talk to Mallory about options, in case that doesn't work." " Anything else?" " No, sir." "The surgery went well, but his heart still won't beat on its own." "So he's one for two." "Yeah." "One for two." " Welcome home, Donna." " Hi." "You shouldn't wheel me around like this." "I want to wheel you around." "I feel like one of those Soviet Premiers who's secretly been dead for ten years." "Your speeches to the Comintern have been a little flat lately." " Donna, hi." " Hi." "I've... got CEA, I wish I could..." "It's so great to have you back." "You're weak, and you know you're weak." "Belly up to the griddle, Grizelda." "Are we opening a restaurant?" "C.J.'s trying to trap me and she's going down like a cheap pair of salad tongs." " I'm not sure I follow your..." " We'll get to that later." "Hang on one second." "I gotta get this." "Don't go anywhere." "Mr. Speaker, the President's not looking to muscle you, that's why I'm here and not Josh." "Okay." "We almost had the 60 Democrats." "And then half of them wanted a cap on the number of kids, the other half didn't, things fell apart." "There's other Democrats out there." "And we're looking to take those meetings and hold the ones we had, but the President's hoping Congress can vote on peacekeeping first." "I'm here to sweeten the deal-- a $400 tax credit." "Yes?" "Uh, sure, I'll put him on speakerphone." "Hello?" "Mr. Speaker, the President's going postal over this tax credit." "I practically had to peel him off the ceiling." "I may be able to talk him down, but you're gonna have to move on peacekeeping now." "Josh." "Toby?" "Hi." " If you want to get back to..." " Sweetening the deal?" "Did I mention it's a very low ceiling?" "Allow me to speak from my own ceiling-- 60 Democrats, or no vote on peacekeeping." "I've got a quorum call, but I'm, oh, so happy I could bring you two together." "Bye-bye, Josh." "Toby." "Okay, the thing about good-cop, bad-cop-- Usually helps..." "I need to know when Toby's back from the Hill." "He's trying to anoint himself Lord of the Flies." "And, uh, get me the Democratic Whip." "You know there's an intercom." " And, uh, Donna..." " You know, you can just use the intercom." "C.J." "Hate to take your time with this." "What do you think my time's for, big boy?" "Don't do that, 'cause now I've gotta do my lousy Cary Grant, and you end up stealing the scene anyway." "What do you need?" "Who's the new White House Chief of Staff?" "I'll tell you about him." "His name's Leo McGarry, he comes out of Chicago, an unconventional choice, sure, but..." "I thought we were off the '30s comedy." "Leo just got out of bypass, a few more hours, he could be out of the woods." "Hmm." "Then I guess these woods don't include incisional pain, chronic pain, swelling in both legs 'cause they took grafts from both." "I guess they don't include mood swings, loss of short-term memory, loss of blood supply." "'Cause if they do, then Leo won't be out of them for three or four months, and I have to ask:" "Who's the new White House Chief of Staff?" " You know so much, you tell me." " I'm hearing Will Bailey." "Then you should have your hearing checked." "Had a one-on-one with the President yesterday, first time all year, knows the military, which Josh and Toby don't." "First of all, it's Leo." "Second, Josh and Toby know every inch of the government-- military, industrial, animal, mineral..." "Lots of folks can manage down." "Will's proven he can manage up, a fully-fledged adult." "Again, it's Leo, but Josh and Toby are both adult, responsible, highly..." "You could throw me in a vat of custard with a chocolate-covered snorkel-- it's gonna be you and me this weekend, baby!" "And you are wearing a floppy hat!" "Congresswoman, thanks for seeing me." "I'm doing back-to-back meetings while I'm on the Hill." "Mm." "Well, thanks for seeing me." "Obviously, Leo's out of commission." "I hope he's doing okay." "Thank you." "We're gonna need your help on this tax bill." "Harder than we thought to get 60 votes in two days." "Well I'd like to amend it-- to appoint a monarch for the United States of America." "Oh, I'm serious." "What are these?" "The President's public schedules for the last four months." "I've calculated that he spends 53.7 percent of his time on ribbon-cuttings and overseas tea ceremonies, which may be why, on his trip to Argentina, he went to three state banquets and didn't do a damn thing for the pork producers in my state of Iowa." "You can't." "This isn't..." "If they don't get tax relief in this bill, I'm calling for a monarch, someone to do the glad-handing and the ceremonial fluff, so maybe the President will help people here at home." "For a Democrat to do this, we're gonna look like buffoons." "I know the argument-- the staff runs the show while the President's off dedicating supermarkets." "All due respect, no one elected Leo, and no one elected you." "Sorry I'm late, Congressman." "I'm sure Leo would want to be here himself." "I'm sure." "A few snags with the tax bill." "So I gather." "The truth is, we could use your vote." "I'm very upset that your Justice Department hasn't filed a single amicus brief in the Oregon or Massachusetts gay marriage cases." "We've debated this a lot." "You know how dicey it is for the party." "I do." "We're headed into a Presidential election year." "We are." "Can't get too far ahead of public opinion, much as we'd like to." "That's why I'd like to help." "By introducing a bill to ban marriage." "That's an interesting idea." "We drop a bill to ban gay marriage, tag a few moderate Republicans as intolerant, but, trust me, it hurts our moderates 50 times more." "My bill bans all marriage." "All." "As in..." "If the government can't make it available to everyone," "I want us out of the business entirely." "Leave it to churches and synagogues." "And, of course, um, casinos and department stores." "Did the RNC put you up to this?" "They don't condone my lifestyle, and I don't condone theirs." " The Democratic leadership." " What about them?" "Did they call to warn me that Benoit wants to ban marriage?" "Ban marriage?" "If we won't support gay marriage, he wants the government out of it entirely." "Who takes an idea like that seriously?" "It's a direct-mail bonanza for the other side." "Even a fringe bill to ban marriage... they'll be reenacting Caligula at the Republican Convention." "You'd look cute in a toga and a dog collar." "Thank you." "C.J. says China's joined the opposition to a Security Council vote until Congress acts." "Why isn't the State Department cracking heads?" "And the President of Turkmenistan told AP he knows of six more wavering votes." "No, he doesn't!" "He's making that up!" "We need a coalition." "We're being mugged by a melon worshipper." "Excuse me, this is for Mr. Lyman, from the Southwest Gate." "From C.J. Cregg." "Probably stuck me with the bill, too." "Thank you." "Send it to the President of Turkmenistan." "The Speaker was never for this deal." "A Security Council resolution would prod him." "What sense does it make to wait?" "Thank you, Madame President." "Charlie's bringing a change of clothes and a new batch of call sheets." "Tell him to leave them at the White House." "I'm staying here." "Tell him to leave them at the White House." "I can do this from here." "The way they wire up these places," "I could do it from a cardboard box in Lafayette Park." "You think this is your fault." "It's not." "He's my best friend." "And I'm not the kind of person who has best friends." "Because your life is your work." "And so is his." "Your work." "What are you trying to say?" "You chose this-- both of you." "You're running a country, for God's sake, not a tree house." "Leo stays in the tree if he wants to." "We'll work around his recovery." "Half-days, whatever it takes." "He's not going to work half-days." "He's not going to work around his recovery." "He's not going to do whatever it takes." "That's his decision." "And we know what that decision will be." "So I should wake him up and fire him again?" "'Cause it worked so well the first time!" "Let's talk about this time." "You've got to keep him out of that job." "He'll kill himself for you, if you don't." "Debbie, I'm ready for my next call." "I'm late for an economic briefing." "It just started, but there's..." "England, Iceland, Spain and Canada have all pledged troops for peacekeeping." "DOD called me in the car." "That's great, but there's something else..." "Does Canada even have troops?" "What do they do, hurl those little bottles of maple syrup?" "Put out a press release." " C.J." " Something else." "What?" "Leo's heart's beating on its own." "He's still critical, but he's off the heart and lung machine." "I'm late for an economic briefing." " Leo's off the pump." " I heard." "What's this?" "A pen." "Am I having a bar mitzvah?" "It's from the peace signing." "The Prime Minister used it to sign the H in his name." "I tried to get the Z, but the Israeli Ambassador beat me to it." "I didn't have anything to do with the peace agreement." "Let's just say you were a blood donor." "I want to stop taking those for granted." "Thank you." "Why is the Treasury Secretary on TV?" "She's probably spinning the peace deal." "C.J.'s rolling out Cabinet heavyweights." "We ought to loop her in on that tax cut." "I believe so, Steve." "I'm hopeful." "So's the President." "There are rumors circulating on Capitol Hill about a new tax cut proposal from the administration." "Some believe it's a way to buy support for a tough peacekeeping mission." "That's without foundation, Steve." "The Treasury did an estimate of the cost of tax cuts on top of peacekeeping." "It would substantially increase the deficit and I can guarantee the President won't sign it." "Thank you, Madame Secretary." " The Treasury estimate?" " Did you see it?" " No." "Did you?" " Treasury Secretary did." " Yeah." " She looked pretty upset." "Upset." "Pretty." "Maybe we should've looped her in sooner." " Or ever?" " That, too." "So, when I suggested a Treasury estimate," "I guess I assumed we'd told the Treasury Secretary, head of all federal tax policy, what in Alexander Hamilton's name we were doing." "Good assumption, though." "I'll call her press office." "See if we can roll this thing back." "Tax cut just got more expensive." "I had to give incentives to pork producers to... avoid a little PR problem." " You didn't." " What?" "I promised we wouldn't back any amendment so Benoit wouldn't do something I don't want to go into right now." "You weren't supposed to negotiate specifics." "I thought "no specifics" wasn't a specific." "You made these stupid rules." "And if I was the only one who broke them..." "Well, what kind of double standard is that?" "Find a standard, I'll let you know if it's been doubled." "So you just want to run this off the top of your head?" "I want to run it off something, anything-- a decision-making tree." " With you at the top." " No!" " With you at the top." " Me." "Till Leo gets back." "I tried to tell the President to give you the job." "He seems to want us topless for now." "You wanted me at the top?" "For two days, I've been trying to hold a meeting-- one lousy kick-off meeting-- on homelessness and mental health." "That's the best idea you've had in months." "It was Leo's." "He didn't want the urgent to crowd out the important." "Getting harder to tell the difference, isn't it?" "Well, someone ought to try." "But we can't just rush in with billy clubs." "Hamas and other terrorist groups will have to stand down first." "So, yes, we're in discussions with the administration and I hope to have more to say about a possible U.S. military role in the Middle East very soon." "Possible role." "Still, coverage today was extraordinary." "It's that little burst of warmth before you freeze to death." "It's a bit drafty in here, actually." "Shut the door." "Your meeting with the President yesterday-- I'm getting questions." "If there's anything you want to tell me." "He wanted a few thoughts on NATO's role in peacekeeping." "NATO..." "Belgium," "Bulgaria," "Canada, Denmark, Estonia..." " Well, heavens to Murgatroid." " What?" "We have all the NATO countries." "We've been focusing on the Security Council, but we have..." "Does this mean you're cooking for me this weekend?" "Not a chance." "Carol, call State, draft a press release, every NATO member's endorsed the peace accord." "We're moving the goal post and claiming the match." "He's only back here to meet with the CINCs." "Do this fast." "You go first." "Why's that?" "You get the special relationship." "If by special, you mean bound for deportation..." "I don't know what you're worrying about." "He's not that upset." " Really?" " Really?" "No, just kidding." "He's ready to rip off his finger and light it like a cigarette." "I'd like to know why my Treasury Secretary is on national television denouncing a tax cut I never saw because of an estimate I never asked for." "We did offer to brief you on the details, sir." "Brief me now." "We're not quite ready to brief you on the details." "Because you made a complete hash of it." "The leadership's sole request before taking up peacekeeping." "We're close to 60 Democratic votes." "It's just that... you might face a decision about the fall legislative agenda." "What is that?" "Would you prefer a bill to appoint an American monarch?" "Or a ban on the institution of marriage?" "Except in casinos and department stores." "You tell the Speaker and the Majority Leader that, with my newfound royal authority, with all my free time now that my marriage has been banned, and with the support of every NATO member in my pocket," "I'm sending those peacekeepers to the Middle East." "If Congress wants to feed them, pay them, or ever bring them back, that's entirely up to them." "I assume we're free to play with the language on that." "We're done here." "Oh, Josh." "Perhaps you could shed some light on this State Department cable." "Sir?" ""Turkmenistan to U.S. We didn't order these pizzas."" "Bet you're thinking there's a really good explanation for that, sir." " Hey." " Hey." "Some welcome home party, huh?" "Feels lucky just to be home." " How's Leo?" " He's in step-down." "He can see visitors pretty soon." " Coming to the hospital?" " A bit later, yeah." " Zoey came to see me." " I told her you were back." "She told me you finished up at Georgetown." "I wish she'd stop telling people that." "Why?" "If I was done with college, I'd shout it from the rooftops." "We've got snipers up there." "That was more of a metaphorical thing." "The truth is, I'm not done." "I never took a swim test." "There's forms I haven't filed." "You're holding up your college degree over paperwork and laps in a pool?" "When I started Georgetown, the President made me promise that when I got the degree," "I'd leave this job." "Why would he want you to do that?" "He doesn't want me holding his jacket for the rest of my life." "I'll see you at the hospital." "Happy almost-graduation, Charlie." "I'm not wearing a tassel." "I don't care what they do to me." "Mr. President." "A morphine drip and we can skip the formalities." "I might get one myself, wheel it into meetings with the Joint Chiefs." "You're not fired, Leo." "You can delegate, work part-time, bring the morphine with you, for all I care." "You remember what you told me when you offered me the job?" "I need you to jump off a cliff." "And I did." "And I'd do it again." "But you need a new Chief of Staff." "We came here to put the job first, spend our lives for something that would outlast us." "I just thought we'd have a longer line of credit is all." "I'm gonna need that list of names." "Only one name." "You planted these baskets." "I promised Donna, no more traps." "It's like a torture chamber designed by renegade Keebler elves." "I never took a moment to thank you for your work at Camp David." "And for holding the building togeth-- well, not exactly together-- in Leo's absence." "It's been a rocky couple of days and that's my fault, no one else's." "We're going to meet with the joint leadership tomorrow and work out a deal on that tax cut." "Even then, we've got some fences to mend at the UN." "So, I imagine we'll see some pretty rough third- and fourth-day stories." "But you know what?" "There'll be a fifth day, and a sixth, and a seventh after that." "So go spend some time with my outgoing Chief of Staff." "'Cause then we got work to do." " C.J." " Sir?" "There's something I need you to do for me." "What's that?" "Jump off a cliff." "We'll talk about it on the ride back." "Yes, sir."