Enemies (The West Wing) - Plot

Plot

The latest round of infighting between the President and the Vice President, Sam's foray into romance with the daughter of his boss, and a crucial effort to keep a major legislative program afloat marked this episode.

C.J. tries to quash rumors that the President and Vice President got into an argument at a cabinet meeting. At the meeting, the Vice President said that the administration's first priority should be working with Congress to pass legislation, and the President said (very condescendingly) that the first priority should be serving the interests of the American people. Leo assumes the VP leaked the argument and C.J. goes to the VP to see what happened, only to have him very angrily deny it. C.J. later figures out that the woman who was taking notes for the meeting leaked the story, although the President doesn't believe her at first. The President later meets with the VP and when the VP expresses his indignation at being treated badly, the President says that the VP shouldn't have made the President beg him for the VP nomination in the first place. They leave on bad terms and with nothing resolved.

Leo's daughter Mallory begins to date Sam, to Leo's dismay. He manages to stall the date with a Machiavellian (as Mallory calls it) move involving the President as a co-conspirator. This is not so much for his unease with the fact that she is interested in Sam, but because he feels his daughter is blaming him for her mother leaving. By the end, Leo tells Sam he'll be all right with them dating as long as Sam never talks to Leo about it.

Meanwhile, the staff is trying to work out how the President can sign a very important banking reform bill into law without having to give in to an amendment on the bill that would allow strip mining of federal land in Montana that was tossed in by two Republican lawmakers the White House can't stand. Josh, by way of Donna, comes up with a solution using the Antiquities Act, suggesting that the federal land be converted into a National Park after signing the bill. The solution works, but the President and Josh are both left feeling less than cheerful because of the ugliness they've seen in both the political environment and their own actions.