S2e7- The Portland Trip (You should really have Fresca)

Ainsley's office is hot and there are occasionally loud noises.  Donna has plans to go to drinks, dinner, dancing and dessert (apparently the four D's to a date in Aaron Sorkin's world), but Josh can only let her leave for one hour and five minutes.  CJ made a joke about Notre Dame football on the eve of their game against Michigan, and is now being punished.  Sam's not writing very well.  Leo's not having a lot of luck capturing an oil tanker that is violating UN sanctions, and also received his divorce papers.  Josh is trying to figure out how Congressman Skinner can be both gay and a Republican.  President Bartlet is hoping that the romance of a late night departure and the subsequent separation between his staff and the ground will produce some inspired solutions to any of the above problems.

Charlie comes up with the idea of offering free college tuition for 100,000 students, as long as they agree to teach for 3 years- but the closest the President gets to it on this flight is Leo putting together a team to study whether or not a pilot program of 100 teachers is feasible.

Oy.  What a bummer.  This whole episode is a bit of a downer, aside from:

  1. The humorous punishment of CJ:

  2. Josh telling Donna she looks great in her dress (Team Donna, represent):

  3. Ainsley telling the cashier that they should really be carrying Fresca, a soda that she is apparently      a fan of (sorry, I couldn't resist the urge to pun):

Ainsley would have loved working in the White House for Lyndon B. Johnson- he loved Fresca so much that he had a special call button installed to press any time he wanted a Fresca.  So basically, he invented the Amazon Dash system, which allows you to press a button whenever your run out of something around the house.  Like Doritos.  Because no time should be wasted in obtaining Doritos.  If only there were a solution to get Doritos faster than the Two-Day shipping that Amazon offers.  A large building where food is stored and available for purchase in a variety of sizes and amounts.

Anyways, Ainsley and LBJ- big Fresca fans (see, I did it again).  If you were wondering, LBJ's other favorite foods were canned peas and tapioca.  Don't ever think I don't do plenty of research for this blog.

Quick word on the fictitious "Marriage Recognition Act."  I'm assuming that this is a reference to the "Defense Of Marriage Act," usually referred to as DOMA, given the information given about the law and possible challenging strategies (Ainsley's task is to research the "full faith and credit clause" for Josh).  This bit of legislation was struck down in 2013 by the Supreme Court and is discussed later in the show- S5e17-The Supremes.  Interestingly, in that episode it does refer to DOMA by its proper name; I'm not entirely sure why there was a need to create a fictitious law that was so clearly close to the real one, which was enacted in 1996- 4 years before this episode was written.  President Bartlet decides to Pocket Veto the law- not responding to its submission from Congress while not in session.  This is why it will be sent back to him in January.   For the record, James Madison was the first president to use the Pocket Veto- apparently, he didn't want to give Congress the chance to override his veto, so he walked around with the proposed law in his pocket until Congress was no longer in session- hence the term Pocket Veto.

By my count, that's two instances of excessive Presidential folklore and one really bad fan joke, which means it's time to ask:


What's Next?  S2e8- Shibboleth

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