path: Home / Continuing Threads & Relationships  President Bartlet & Mrs. Landingham
- The President and his secretary have a sort of mother/son relationship like when she compains about his diet:
- "You're not getting enough roughage in your diet, you know
I'm right about that."
"I know I'd like to beat you senseless with a head of cabbage, I know
that for damn sure."
"Once again you display an immaturity about vegetables that I
think is not at all presidential." [#119]
- When Dr. Tolliver orders him to cut down on red meat, Mrs. Landingham doesn't give him the steaks that had been brought as a gift:
- "You are a cattle rustler, Mrs. Landingham."
"If you say so, Mr. President. And no Scotch tonight, Sir."
"Between you and Morris Tolliver who needs a wife or a mother?" [#102]
- Then there is:
- "You're not going to spoil my good time for me," President to Mrs. Landingham.
"Oh, sir, I think we both know from experience that's not true."
"Yeah."
"You need to be in the car ten minutes ago, Mr. President."
"Do you see me walking out the door?"
"No, I see you standing and arguing with a senior citizen." [#22]
Note: This whole page was inspired by the above dialogue sent us by Mary Santiago.
- Sometimes the President seems to think that Mrs. Landingham has special powers:
- "Mrs. Landingham, I can't seem to find my glasses anywhere. Can you please do whatever it is you do when I can't find my glasses?" [#103]
- The President learns from Charlie that Mrs. Landingham has paid sticker price for a car in the belief that Section 2635 forbids her from taking a gift worth more than $20 and he confronts his secretary [#43]:
- "Oh, Sir. Surely you have better things to do than annoy me."
"Never. You bought a new car? . . . . And you paid sticker price?"
"Section 2635 -"
"You need to look at the next page, Subsection B paragraph 4, Mammy Yokum."
"You know I could beat you up anytime I want, Sir."
"The Secret Service would have you down like a calf at a rodeo.
The definition of gift excludes opportunities and benefits including favorable rates and commercial discounts available to the public at large."
"I did look at the next page. . . . I work next door to the Oval Office, Sir. Caesar's wife must be above reproach."
"Is the reason you didn't tell me you were getting a new car, you? - Did you think I would think it was extravegance. You don't think I think you should have a new car? Delores, have you ever had a new car?"
"No. No, Henry would go to Calvin Hilly in Concord and Calvin would give him a good deal on something relible."
"How about you let me find out what you were suppose to pay and write you a check for the difference."
"Oh, no. Thank you, but I'm buying this car myself. This car is going to feel good."
"Is it a nice one?"
"It's a beauty. It's blue. It has air-conditioning. I told them I could just roll down the windows but it comes with it anyway. Consumer Reports rates it very high. It's very safe. And when you get inside, there's this . . ."
"Smell?"
"How did you know?"
"It's the smell of freedom. And the chemicals they treat the dashboard with. When are you picking it up?"
"Right now."
"Do me a favor, would you? Come back here after you pick it up, I'd like to talk to you about something. . . . And put the car in the driveway, I'd like to kick the tires." Asking her to come back is a request the President will come to regret with deep feelings of guilt! [#43]
-
- "Why do you talk to me like this?" - Jed Bartlet asked her while he was a student and she was the secretary of his father, the headmaster.
"Because you never had a big sister, and you need one." [#44]
|
