Chapter 13
“Make it clear why you’re not giving your support and that you are confident the President will
support you on this refusal to alter the original bill.” Amy coached by phone.
“We’ve got it.” Dobson sighed. “This isn’t our first time at bat.”
“Fine. Get out there now so you make the news breaks over breakfast.” Amy instructed before she
hung up on the Congressman and dialed Donna’s cell.
“Donna Moss.”
“Hi, it’s Amy. I have some bad news.”
“That concerns the First Lady’s office?”
“There’s some backlash from Josh pulling the original ed bill off the floor. Several Congressmen
are concerned that it looks like the east wing is controlling the agenda. You’re going to want to
have Annabeth get out in front of it; announce that the President and his Chief of Staff are fully
committed to the new bill. She should do it right away, Donna.”
“She should? Since when are you interested in helping me, Amy?” Donna questioned.
“I happen to believe a strong First Lady is a good thing for the country, Donna. I don’t consider it
to be helping you, if that makes you feel any better.” Amy replied snidely.
“Actually, Amy, it does. I’ll get Annabeth right on it.” Donna hung up the phone and hit stop on the
recording device she used to record the call.
“That is why I don’t do mushy over the phone.” Josh mumbled to her, nodding to the recorder.
“You’re a very wise man, Joshua. However, I can’t see how anyone would have a problem with you
speaking mushy to your fiancé over the phone.” Donna countered.
“I just have a hard time stopping at merely mushy.” He admitted and earned a kiss. “Not in the
office, Donna. We have rules.”
Donna got up from his couch and sighed. “Fine. I’ll just take my affection elsewhere.”
“The hell you will!” Josh retorted. “Why aren’t you wearing your ring?”
Donna pulled the ring out from where it was dangling on a chain under her blouse. “I don’t think
now is the time to make this particular announcement, do you?”
“Maybe not, but you’d better remember it’s there.” He threatened.
“How could I forget?” She murmured and clicked open her cell again. “Annabeth, you’re on. Full
court press.” She sent one look back at her fiancé and reminded him he’d better get in character
too.
“I’ve got it completely under control.” He smirked. “Remember Abner?”
Donna rolled her eyes and left him to play his role.
**********************************************
“I don’t understand, sir. We had a strategy. Why did you pull Mrs. Santos from her appointments
on the hill?” Josh asked the President during senior staff in the Oval.
“That was your strategy, Josh. Surely as President I can devise strategy of my own.” President
Santos quipped.
“Of course sir, I just thought-“
“I had some time to do some thinking of my own last night.” The President continued. “I had an
illuminating meeting and then a long discussion with my wife. There needs to be a clear course
coming from this White House and I’m not about to let my agenda be hijacked by the east wing.
The First Lady and her Chief of Staff have a unique relationship with this office but I was the one
elected. I’m going to make my own statement this morning and address the chain of command
here.”
“Ooookay.” Lou drawled. “We’ll put together some remarks for you, sir.”
“I’ve already got my remarks, thanks.”
“Sir, what Lou means is-“ Josh began.
“Lou can relax. I haven’t lost the ability to speak since I took the oath of office. Is there anything
else?”
“Sir…just who did you meet with last night? There was nothing on the schedule.”
“Members of Congress who had some concerns. I’m going to address those concerns today. That’
s all, everyone.” The President dismissed them.
“Thank you, Mr. President.” Josh answered for all of them and ushered the group into his office.
“Amy, find out who met with the President last night. Lou, prepare some remarks for Lester to spin
whatever the hell the President is stating today.” He ordered.
“That might prove a little difficult considering we don’t know exactly what he’s going to say.” Lou
commented.
“I think we got the general gist. Hey, hold on.” Josh turned up the TV volume and heard Annabeth
tell the gaggle that the new bill had the President’s unwavering support and that the First Lady
would be aggressively lobbying for it despite her early morning meetings being cancelled. “Well,
that should add some spice to everyone’s life.” Josh muttered.
Amy went directly from Josh’s office to the White House Press office and leaked to several
organizations that the President would be pulling his support for the bill and relegating the First
Lady to a more traditional role from now on. She also surmised that this would affect the President’
s relationship with his Chief of Staff since it had been Josh Lyman’s idea to pull the original bill;
undoubtedly due to the influence of his girlfriend in the First Lady’s office.
It wasn’t even 30 minutes before it was all over the wires and being picked up by main stream
news media.
“God bless corporate media.” Josh noted and the rest of his staff just sat back and watched the
train wreck about to take place.
“Just promise me that when my times comes it will just be you and me in this office where I will be
quietly dismissed.” Lou turned to Josh.
After a moment of thought, Josh turned back and said, “No.”
Lou’s eyes got big and Josh chuckled. “Disloyalty and personal promotion aren’t acceptable in this
administration.”
“I think we all got that.” Bram quipped.
“I think the rest of us had that before this happened.” Sam assured them and sent a ‘give me a
break’ look to Josh who pointedly ignored him. “Aren’t you supposed to be out there too?” Sam
indicated the closed circuit feed from the Press Room.
“Not. Quite. Yet.” Josh sat back in his chair.
“Ladies and Gentlemen, the President of the United States.” Lester introduced him and got out of
the way.
“Good morning, I asked for a few minutes of your time this morning so that I could speak
specifically about two issues; the new education reform bill that is being worked out in committee
and the role the First Lady’s office will be assuming in this administration.”
“As most of you are aware, education reform was a major part of my election platform. I was, and
continue to be, anxious to enact the kind of reforms that will make our educational system the best
in the world. That bill was on it’s way to the floor for a full vote of the House when my Chief of Staff
Josh Lyman convinced me to pull it.” President Santos paused, and it was then that Josh got up
from his chair and silently left his own office to walk to the press room. “Sometimes, you get so
embroiled in the battle of the day that you can fail to see the bigger picture. When my wife’s visit to
California, and her interest in an educational program there started to gain traction in the press
and the Congress, I first saw it as a distraction from the bill we’d worked so hard to write and lobby
for. I considered the alternative program to be nothing but an inconvenient nuisance.”
“Then Josh came to me with a different approach; instead of fighting this alternative bill, why not
incorporate the best of both programs into one. I was hesitant. It’s a huge program and is going to
require serious Federal funding. I wondered if the west wing would be able to push something like
this through in the first hundred days of this administration. But my Chief of Staff, along with Helen’
s Chief of Staff, were able to convince me that it was something worthy of our combined efforts.
Which lead me to the second point I want to make this morning.”
On cue, Helen, Donna, and Josh entered the press room and made their way to stand behind the
President. “The First Lady’s role has been a fluctuating and uncertain one in our nation’s history.
The road that women walk in our political world is significantly different and more challenging than
the one that men do; a point that has been made very clear to me.” Santos paused as the press
chuckled. “Which means the women that do walk that path deserve more credit and appreciation
than we often give them. My wife is attempting to walk that path and she has to do it under
international scrutiny so I’m all the more proud of her involvement in issues that are important to
our country”
“It will be the policy of this administration for the west wing and the east wing to work in close
collaboration to effect change in this country. I will consider the east wing an extension of my office
and expect them to weigh in on policy initiatives and help lobby for support of those initiatives both
in Congress and with the American people. I will also expect them to respect the fact that the buck
stop here. There will be times, such as with this education reform package, that I will reconsider
our position based on information brought to me by the First Lady’s office. There will also be times
that the initiatives they bring to the table will not get the attention they feel they deserve. But I trust
that going forward we will speak with one voice and we will be a united front. Questions?”
“Sir, the word from your office, just this morning, was that you would be pulling your support for the
new ed bill and reinstating the old bill. Why the discrepancy?”
“There’s been no discrepancy. I have supported this new legislation since Josh Lyman brought it
to me.”
“A high level official in the west wing, told us this morning that you’d be stating your opposition to
the new bill at the press conference this morning and that you’d expressed the same sentiment at
a meeting with members of Congress last night.”
“Obviously, your source was wrong about the press conference so I wouldn’t give them much
credit about anything else that came out of their mouth. You should also know that leaks aren’t
tolerated in this administration. Whoever is responsible for leaking information; true or untrue won’
t be working at this White House any longer.”
“Then you didn’t meet last night with Congressmen Dobson and Meyers?”
“I did. They expressed their concerns about the new bill and their concerns that there wasn’t a
cohesive message coming out of the White House. I assured them I would make a statement today
that would make my positions very clear. I’m pretty sure I’ve accomplished that.”
“Mrs. Santos, are you surprised at the amount of attention your program is receiving across the
country?”
“I’m surprised at work every day.” Helen noted. “But it’s not my program, it’s our program; and I’m
very proud of the effect I think this legislation will have on our education and health care system.
When I visit the hill later today, I’ll be able to tell members of Congress, firsthand, about the result
of these programs in California.”
“Mrs. Santos! Do you see this as an expansion of the First Lady’s influence and power in the
White House?”
“I see it as a partnership that has always existed between the east and west wing being formalized
to the best advantage of the country. The more perspectives brought to the Oval office the better
the President will be able to serve all his constituents.”
“So you’re predicting this new package will pass the house and senate this session?”
“Not without a lot of work.” The President predicted. “We need to make a clear and compelling
argument for the changes we want to introduce, but I’m confident that working together we will do
just that. Thank you.” The president took his wife’s hand and exited the briefing room; Josh and
Donna right behind them. Lester took the podium to wrap things up.
Once they’d moved into the hallway, Donna veered off from the others and made her way to the
office of the legislative director, but not before Josh gave her hand a squeeze.
Her knock was perfunctory at best and she didn’t wait for a response before she opened Amy’s
office door. Amy was seated at her desk watching the follow up from the press conference on her
television while her phone continued to ring unanswered.
“You’re not going to get that?” Donna indicated the phone. “I imagine that the members of
Congress you’ve been pumping up with tales of White House discord are anxious to talk to you.”
“I imagine they are.” Amy agreed but made no attempt to answer the phone. “If you came here to
gloat you’re a little late. I just faxed my letter of resignation to the President.”
“Well, that’s a bonus to be sure, but I wouldn’t count on it being accepted. No, my reasons for
coming to see you are personal.” Donna explained as she took a seat that put the women at eye
level to one another. “I have no doubt that your primary reasoning for all this was professional;
discredit Josh, earn more of the President’s trust, push more of your agenda…I get that. But I also
know that you must have relished the thought of not only taking me down but driving a wedge
between Josh and me. So I wanted to come over to tell you some news, personally. You’re the first
person in the White House to hear, actually.” Donna took the chain from around her neck and
removed the engagement ring from it before slipping it back on her left hand. “Josh asked me to
marry him last night. So all your machinations and all you pettiness came to absolutely nothing for
you and a renewed commitment not only between the President and First Lady but also between
Josh and me.” Donna rose from the chair regally. “I wasn’t going to tell you at first, I was
concerned you might leak it before we were ready to announce it ourselves, but then my brilliant
fiancé pointed out that NOBODY in this town would believe a word that comes out of your mouth
anymore, so I decided, ‘what the hell?’. Goodbye Amy.”
Donna pulled the door to the office open again. “And don’t let the door hit you on the ass on your
way out.” She muttered just loudly enough for Amy and her assistant to hear her remarks.
*********************************************************
“The President will see you now.” Ronna announced and Amy sauntered into the Oval office. She’
d been here before and she wasn’t looking forward to the reenactment. She startled though, when
it was Josh’s face she saw, not President Santos.
“I was told-“ Amy began.
“He’ll be right here.” Josh replied breezily and took a seat on the couch in front of the Resolute
desk.
“You set me up.”
“Nah…I just gave you enough rope. You did the rest all by yourself.” Josh smiled.
“I understand congratulations are in order.” Amy smirked.
“Yes.” When Josh didn’t elaborate, Amy felt compelled to fill in the silence.
“It’s always been her, hasn’t it?”
“Yes.” Josh smiled again at Amy’s frustration from his lack of response. He never knew it could be
so much fun to say little or nothing. Just as she was about to blow, the President entered and Josh
stood up.
“You asked to see me, sir?” Josh enquired.
“I thought you might want to be here for this since you warned me against hiring her in the first
place.” President Santos remarked.
“You’re mistaken, sir. I’d prefer to be just about anywhere else. I lost interest in Amy and her
dramas a long time ago.” Josh kept his eyes on the President. “If you’ll excuse me, sir? I need to
return a call to the British foreign minister.”
Santos considered this, then nodded to Josh’s office in dismissal. Once Josh had closed the door,
the President turned back to Amy.
“Ms. Gardner. Have a seat.” The President indicated a chair next to his desk and took his seat
behind it.
“I’d prefer to stand, sir.”
“Take a seat.” The President repeated and Amy rolled her eyes before taking a seat. “You’ve
been very busy. If you’d worked half as hard in promoting our agenda as you were in promoting
your agenda not only would we have passed ed reform already, we’d have a health care package
passed too. You’re that good.”
“I already tendered my resignation, sir. What more do you want from me?”
“I’m not accepting your resignation, Amy. I’m firing you. I won’t use any hackneyed phrase about
getting the hell out of town, but you’re not a friend to this administration, so you’re going to find
that getting employed in any area of Government here is going to be…difficult. Don’t come into my
White House again. Understand?”
Amy stood. “Yes, sir.” She figured she’d be done here if her plan backfired. Now it was time to
move on to plan B.
****************************************************
“Is it okay?” Donna pointed to Josh’s door.
“He just finished his call.” Carol nodded. “Go on in.”
“Hey.” Josh looked up at the sound of her voice and smiled. When he looked down at her hand
and saw his ring there, his smile deepened even as his eyebrows quirked up. “I thought we weren’t
ready to make that announcement yet.”
“I just wanted to tell one person.” Donna pouted and put the ring back on it’s chain.
Josh knew immediately who she meant and he chuckled. “Was it worth it?”
“You know, it was.” Donna decided. “What was her reaction?”
“To what?”
“To being fired.” Donna clarified.
“I don’t know. I didn’t stay for the show. As I told the President, I lost interest in Amy and her
dramas a long time ago.” Josh rose and put his arms around his fiancé. “I talked to Mom. She’d
like to come up next week to celebrate with us. I told her I’d check with you.”
“You did?” Donna had been touched by his comment about Amy and knew he was doing the
distraction thing by bringing up his conversation with his mother.
“Yes, I did. Engaged for less than a day and already I’m remembering to check with you before I
make plans with family. I’m so going to rock at this.” He smirked.
“You know, I think you just might.” Donna agreed and kissed him. “I’d love to see your mom. Tell
her that would be great. I have to get back now. We’ve got a busy day on the hill.”
“Yes, you do.” Josh sighed. “And I need to go brief the President on a problem in London.”
“Everything’s okay?” She asked.
“At the moment. I’ll see you later.” Josh assured her.