The Great West Wing Rewatch: 4.12 "Guns Not Butter"

Joel: Now that all of the election story has passed, it feels like we’re finally getting back to the process of making deals and compromises in an effort to get one or two votes in the senate to go one way instead of the other. We even get the part where Josh is about to push for something crazy, and The President has to talk him down by saying they’re not going to win this one, but that’s ok. It’s like season one all over again. Really though, what strikes me the most in this episode is Donna talking to Ellen, the Chief of Staff for Senator Hardin about working for Josh. It’s one of the most effective “I’m not mad, I’m just disappointed.” speeches I’ve ever seen, but it also shows a little bit into the lives of the people who work under the famous faces. Yes, I know that’s more or less what the entire show is about, but it’s a reminder that for everyone working in the White House, this isn’t just a job where you do what your boss tells you to do simply because they’re your boss. No, everyone here believes in the goal they’re working for, and believes in the people that they’re working for. And that’s an important thing to keep in mind when you’re faced with unreasonable, sometimes impossible tasks almost on the daily.

Chris: If you have to take a loss, it's always better to lose as a team, the loss is a little bit easier to get over and that much more easier to move onto the next thing. We've seen in various episodes when there is a political loss because of the actions of one staff member and seems almost devastating and takes a couple of the following episodes for that character to get over and the word "resignation" is used a couple times. No one resigning over this loss and, in fact, the only punishment to be passed down to anyone is everyone has to pose with a goat in a picture. That's college for most people and that's still worse because everyone has their clothes on for the picture. Because if you haze someone in the White House, storing your stuff and farm animals in the new guy's office is fine but nudity tends to be frowned upon*.

*Depends on the president. Hey, Bill Clinton, how you doin'? Also, FDR was known to have naked wheelchair parties all the time**.

**Did you know you could just make things up?

A good president takes a picture with a female cow that's actually a female goat that's actually a male goat.