In the episode, a White House insider writes a memo that attacks President Bartlet for his ineffectiveness in making bold decisions due to his timid nature.
Sam, Toby and Josh are involved in a series of meetings which go nowhere and result in nothing; Sam knows no progress is possible on getting a policy in place so that gays and lesbians can openly serve in the military; Josh confronts a group of Republican Congressional staffers who threaten him with poison-pill legislation if he even thinks about pushing for campaign finance reformers on two newly opened Federal Election Commission seats; and Toby tells Leo that they have had only one victory in office and that was putting Judge Mendoza on the Supreme Court.
The staffers and the President feel listless and ineffectual in their jobs, and worry that they will be unable to achieve anything meaningful due to the constraints of the political system.
The President and his staff resolve to act boldly and "raise the level of public debate" in America by moving forward with a more liberal agenda.
[4][5] In a May 2000 interview with TV Guide Online, Martin Sheen admitted to not knowing much about Innes when he first learned that she would be directing the episode, but that evening, when his wife looked at the call sheets, she commented that "Laura was the best thing on ER, so he had better behave.
[18] Commentators additionally applied the lesson to politicians including New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg in 2009,[19] Prime Minister of Australia Julia Gillard twice in 2010,[20][21] which prompted other news reporters to publish their thoughts to that topic and make it a top ten discussion of the week in Australia,[22] British Labour leader Ed Miliband in 2011,[23] and Scottish politician Johann Lamont in 2011.