They keep moving the goalpost on you, don't they? Get A's, good college, Latin honors. Get into the London School of Economics. Get a good teaching job. Ivy League school, tenure. Now you gotta publish, now you gotta go to Stockholm.
It's not good for a person to keep setting goals?
It probably is, but it's tricky for somebody who's still trying to get his father to stop hitting him.
Well, I'm told that most men lead lives of quiet desperation.
Yeah, but that's most men. That's not you. That's the other people, the ones who feel stress. You're destined for something else.
I have abilities.
And now you have an opportunity to use them.
I think I have.
That room I passed down the hall, on the left, it's got a name, right?
I think you're talking about the Lincoln Bedroom.
Right. This is a hell of a curve you get graded on now. Lincoln freed the slaves and won the Civil War. "Thank you. Next! And what will you be singing for us today, Mr. Bartlet?" "Well, we've had six straight quarters of economic growth."
That's not easy.
Okay.
It's not easy.
I believe you.
I think I've made tough choices.
I think Lincoln did what he thought was right, even though it meant losing half the country. I think you don't do what you think is right if it means losing Michigan's electoral votes.
You don't know anything.
I'll be the first to admit that.
I'm not trying to get my father to like me.
Good. 'Cause it's never, never gonna happen. Look, we're done for the night.
What?
We've been here for two hours. It was a double session. We're done for the night.
Stanley, I hate to put it this way, but I'm me, and you're you, and we're done when I say we're done.
No. [pause] I think you could use some assistance right now, sir. Use me, don't use me, but all I can offer you is this: I'll be the only person in the world, other than your family, who doesn't care that you're the President. [pause] Our time is up.
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