[at his father's grave] Hey, pop. Been awhile. Did you see that motorcade pull up? It's the first time that the President of the United States has visited Gaffney. Can you believe it? [to audience] Oh, I wouldn't be here if I had a choice, but I have to do these sorts of things now. Makes me seem more human, and you have to be a little human when you're the president. He couldn't even afford his own gravestone. I paid for it, out of my own scholarship money from the Sentinel. Nobody showed up at his funeral, except me. Not even my mother. I'll tell you this, though, pop: When they bury me, it won't be in my backyard, and when they come to pay their respects, they'll have to wait in line.
[He unzips and urinates on the grave]
Good evening. For too long, we in Washington have been lying to you. We say we're here to serve you when in fact, we're serving ourselves. And why? We are driven by our own desire to get re-elected. Our need to stay in power eclipses our duty to govern. That ends tonight. Tonight, I give you the truth. And the truth is this: the American Dream has failed you. Work hard, play by the rules? You aren't guaranteed success. Your children will not have a better life than you did. Ten million of you can't even get a job, even though you desperately want one. We've been crippled by Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, by welfare, by entitlements... and that is the root of the problem: entitlements. Let me be clear: You are entitled to nothing. You are entitled to nothing. America was built on the spirit of industry. You build your future, it isn't handed to you. And the problem with Washington is that we haven't given you the tools to build it. The only way for us to serve you is to give you the means to serve yourselves. That's exactly what I intend to do. Not handouts - jobs. Real paying jobs. In the next few weeks, the Democratic leadership will introduce a bill called America Works. Its goal is simple: to put the ten million Americans who are unemployed to work. All of them. If you want a job, you get one. The cost is $500 billion. Now, that's a lot of money. To pay for it, we'll have to rethink Social Security, health care, and benefits from the ground up. We can't maintain the welfare state as we know it. Now, that's not a popular thing to say. Anyone running for office wouldn't dare utter those words. Every adviser and consultant and staff member would beg a presidential candidate not to say them. But I can say them... because I will not be seeking the Democratic nomination in 2016. Candidates are cautious. They must equivocate. They dodge and tip-toe. But I'd rather leave this office having accomplished something of value than secure another four years having done nothing at all. Franklin Delano Roosevelt ushered in an era of hope and progress when he proposed the New Deal, and at the time his reforms were considered radical. But he once said, 'This country demands bold, persistent experimentation.' It is common sense to take a method and try it and if it fails, admit it frankly and try another. Roosevelt would have understood better than anyone the necessity for trying something different. The New Deal succeeded for many years, but we must now try something newer before it fails us. If America Works succeeds, we will reinvent the American Dream. If we fail in our attempt, we will admit it frankly and try another. But above all, we must try something. Thank you, and God bless the United States of America.
Tell me, do you kiss the wife of every president?
Not every president's wife looks like yours.
[Frank laughs, and then turns to the audience]
I'd push him down the stairs and light his broken body on fire just to watch it burn, if it wouldn't start a world war.
MMahmoud
You know what I dreamed of when I came here? Choking you with my bare hands.
Mr. Mahmoud, you may hate me. You may hate the office I hold. But here's the reality: I must make decisions every day that I hope are just. I don't know right from wrong all the time. I wish I did. But what I can't be is indecisive.
MMahmoud
It says in the Quran that the taking of one life is like the taking of all mankind.
It also says that the saving of one life is like the saving of all mankind.
MMahmoud
You didn't ask me here to apologize. You asked me here to forgive you.
I didn't order the strike to-
MMahmoud
I won't forgive you, Mr. President. I don't want to make it any easier for you to sleep at night. Knowing a few lines of the Quran does not absolve you.
I have a duty to this nation, Mr. Mahmoud. I swore an oath.
MMahmoud
There's a fine line between duty and murder. Only you have to power to stop what happened to me. The next time you wield it, I hope you'll think twice.
[Grayson has just kicked Sayyad out of the press corps]
ASAyla Sayyad
The president just made a statement about free speech. Now you're going to start kicking reporters out of the White House?
ASAyla Sayyad
No, not just me! You're fucking with the second largest daily in America. You can get rid of me, but not the institution I work for.
ASAyla Sayyad
Don't let your 15 minutes of power go to your head, Seth,
You can keep the plastic if you want, as a souvenir. That's all it's good for now.
HDHeather Dunbar
My letter of resignation.
I can't accept that. You're too valuable to us.
HDHeather Dunbar
I can't run for office as a Solicitor General.
Then you should reconsider running for office.
HDHeather Dunbar
It's too late for that, I think.
I don't understand, Heather, I offered you a seat on the Supreme Court.
HDHeather Dunbar
If Jacobs was stepping down, which he isn't.
HDHeather Dunbar
As Solicitor General, I'm friendly with all of the justices. I keep those relationships private, so no one will suspect any bias toward me. But Robert and I are very close. He and Ruth have me over for dinner once a month.
So you already knew about the Alzheimer's.
HDHeather Dunbar
He told me the day he was diagnosed.
I've never had anything but his best interests at heart.
HDHeather Dunbar
You don't care about Robert. You wanted to sideline me.
So you actually think you have a shot at this office.
HDHeather Dunbar
Yes I do, and so does the leadership.
You're in over your head Heather, no matter what Birch or Womack are telling you.
HDHeather Dunbar
Why should it concern you, Mr. President? You've announced that you're not running.
Is this personal for you?
HDHeather Dunbar
Don't flatter yourself!
You got Walker, but you couldn't get me!
HDHeather Dunbar
I don't have to run to make sure you leave office, you couldn't win anyway. I'm running because I know I'd make a good President.
Oh you might very well make a good President, but right now you're being delusional.
HDHeather Dunbar
When Birch approached me, I wasn't sure. I was tempted, but I knew it was a long shot. And when you offered the nomination I was overwhelmed. It's what I've been working toward my entire career. But then I spoke to Robert and when he told me how you threatened him I knew I had to run. Someone needs to scrub the stink from this office.
HDHeather Dunbar
What would you call it?
I was trying to save him, the same way I'm trying to save you now, once the news of his Alzheimer's gets out, which it will, because no matter how much we all try to lie about it, it's gonna leak. Can you imagine, what that's going to do to his reputation? He deserved better than that and you deserve being an also ran. Help me convince him. Take the seat on the Court where you belong.
HDHeather Dunbar
Is this how you live with yourself? By rationalizing the obscene into the palatable..
[Heather starts to leave the oval office]
I haven't excused you yet!
HDHeather Dunbar
See you in Iowa.
I understand the Old Testament God, whose power was absolute, who ruled through fear. [points to the Cross] But Him?
CECharles Eddis
There's no such thing as absolute power for us, except on the receiving end. Using fear will get you nowhere. It's not your job to determine what's just. It's not your place to choose which version of God you like best. It's not your duty to serve this country alone, and it better not be your goal to simply serve yourself. You serve the Lord, and through Him you serve others. Two rules: Love God, and love each other. Period. You weren't chosen, Mr. President. [points to the Cross] Only He was.
May I have a few moments for myself, to pray?
CECharles Eddis
It's all yours. [leaves]
[to the Cross] Love. That's what you're selling. Well, I don't buy it.
[He spits on the Cross. When he tries to clean off the spit, the Cross falls and shatters. Meechum comes running in.]
Is everything all right, sir?
I was praying, and it just fell. Have someone come in and clean this up.
[to the audience] Well, I've got God's ear now.
BEBishop Eddis
What's on your mind, Mr. President?
At the burial the other day, you talked about Abraham and Isaac, God giving up his only son.
BEBishop Eddis
Between you and me, that's the same sermon I always use at Arlington. You put enough soldiers in the ground, you get tired of writing new ones.
It was the first time I had heard it.
BEBishop Eddis
Won't be the last.
I want to understand what justice is.
BEBishop Eddis
That's a big one.
BEBishop Eddis
There's our justice, the kind men create. We base it on things like the Ten Commandments. But those can be read a million different ways.
"Thou shalt not kill" seems pretty clear.
BEBishop Eddis
Who's to say? If we didn't kill, others would kill instead of us. There's a lot of killing in the Bible. King David was a warrior.
How do you reconcile that with the laws that God gave Moses?
BEBishop Eddis
Even those laws require interpretation.
BEBishop Eddis
There are two laws we have to remember above all else. He tells us to love God and to love each other.
You can't love the people you kill.
BEBishop Eddis
You sure as hell can. And you have to love the people who are trying to kill you.
BEBishop Eddis
Jesus loved the Romans. "Father, forgive them," he said, "for they know not what they do."
"Yeah, well, why didn't he fight? Why did he allow himself to be sacrificed?
BEBishop Eddis
I ask myself that question a lot.
HMHector Mendoza
We're drafting a law that says that this use of funds is illegal.
And who's going to enforce that law?
BBBob Birch
We were ready to impeach one president; we'll do the same with you, if necessary.
And put Donald Blythe in this office? You know he's not up for the job. Congress would get killed for malpractice. As crooked as you may think I am, you know I can handle the pressure, and you know that Donald can't. So pass your law, I'll veto it, and when you overrule me in the Senate, we'll let the third branch decide.
BBBob Birch
Don't declare war on Congress, Mr. President.
Not on Congress. I'm declaring war on atrophy. [to the audience] But, these days, who could tell the difference?
