I think things were nuts for me when this was posted so I missed it! Wasn't I right that you'd find this one really satisfying?
You're right about everything. It's also my experience that the only place that hires quickly is small business. Government and big business are very very very very very very slow. So the fluctuations in terms of who should have how many people are definitely for writerly convenience and not based in reality at all. I actually think it would have been more interesting to have brought Tom back on contract or something - make him a bit wobblier as a city employee.
I can... kinda sorta buy Chris' apparent naivete about working for Leslie's campaign. He's moved around all over the place but hasn't stuck around. He's used to being pretty Teflon, I think. But now he's in Pawnee, apparently settled (unless he gets fired). The other thing to note that just slid on past us (didn't it?) was that Paul is apparently gone for good.
>Pawnee’s government still has a finite budget, and Ben’s still going to be realistic about that, even while he whole-heartedly believes Leslie’s the right person to make those tough calls.
I'm going to quibble on this one. Leslie is awful at making tough calls. Terrible at it. What she's great at is using her ingenuity and resources to make the pie bigger instead of figuring out who gets pie and who doesn't. Thing is, even in the Parks and Rec universe, she doesn't get to access the limitless trust fund of Bobby Newport every time she wants to do something. And every campaign idea she's trumpeted that I can think of (not doing an extensive rewatch at the moment!) involves the city spending more money. The police pensions, Ramp Up Pawnee, fixing up the airport, everything. Terrifically expensive, and on an ongoing basis, too. Aside from the campaign ad from when she's ten, I don't think she's mentioned the tax base once, and even then maybe she was talking about reducing, not increasing, taxes. She can do many awesome things as a politician, including inspire people and mobilize/motivate them, she can negotiate (hi, Ken Hotate), but making tough choices in a zero-sum game environment is not her forte. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but Ben's comment about it in the deleted scene rang oddly for me.
The whole part about how she talks Pillner into keeping Parks but then it's the animal shelter but then they fire Ann and turn the letter around to her in less than a day was utterly unbelievable, though. Just, no. They don't hire people that quickly and they don't fire people that quickly.
Well, that's why I said Ben believed that, not that I did--and I can see how that would strike you that way, although it might also be odd for him to be in love with her and running her campaign while questioning her ability to do the job. I think we'll see her struggle with it more next season, assuming she wins, which it really feels like she's going to at this point. I think that's where the episode tied in really nicely to the Tom/April storyline--that 98 percent of the time the job is going to be really frustrating for her. And the other 2 percent, she'll be able to pull a rabbit out of a hat and do something good. But she's going to agonize over everything because she cares--maybe that's what Ben is talking about. It's not that it comes easily for her, but it's better to have someone like her in that position than someone like Newport or Pillner, who don't think through the implications of their decisions, other than in selfish or political terms.
I'm a little surprised this hasn't come up sooner, since as you pointed out, everything she proposes costs money. Ben's the budget guru, so it seems like he and she would have discussed how to pay for things, and the reality of tradeoffs wouldn't have caught her so off-guard at this point. That's been a little frustrating to me this season, because they're supposed to sound like great Leslie Knope ideas, but they've just sounded like empty campaign promises to me. I kind of wish there had been something more going on in Pawnee or its government where Leslie was campaigning on something particular she really wanted to change or accomplish, rather than just having her be obviously better than this one particular nitwit.
Boy, I want a lot from my sitcoms. Basically I want them to be one-hour dramedies.
> it might also be odd for him to be in love with her and running her campaign while questioning her ability to do the job.
Yeah, no, I didn't mean he should question her ability to do the job. I meant that because I see it this way, Ben should too, because I'm smart, and so's Ben. And the way I see it is that the tradeoffs thing is precisely where her learning curve lies. She's not good at it now. (Ben, on the other hand, is good at it - witness his negotiations with Marlene, when Leslie wasn't freaking him out and sabotaging him.)
So maybe he was just expressing more of a "you'll figure it out" thing - because I think she has to figure that out, at least better than she does it right now. But other elements of politics she's great at. Even that moment in Comeback Kid, I thought she was almost going to pull the rabbit out of the hat during her speech - when she said "wow, this is the worst campaign event ever" - and was going to just start talking, just before what's-his-name came in with the basketball.
But I think you're right, that the 98% might test her more on council than it has so far in Parks.
> they're supposed to sound like great Leslie Knope ideas, but they've just sounded like empty campaign promises to me.
Yeah, and to get all wonky, she could have talked about, say, private businesses also kicking in money for Ramp Up Pawnee. In Harvest Festival and in Meet and Greet it was evident she can work with the business community, or at least recognizes their importance.
As you say, I also expect a lot. ARE YOU READING THIS, MIKE SCHUR ET AL?
You're right about everything. It's also my experience that the only place that hires quickly is small business. Government and big business are very very very very very very slow. So the fluctuations in terms of who should have how many people are definitely for writerly convenience and not based in reality at all. I actually think it would have been more interesting to have brought Tom back on contract or something - make him a bit wobblier as a city employee.
I can... kinda sorta buy Chris' apparent naivete about working for Leslie's campaign. He's moved around all over the place but hasn't stuck around. He's used to being pretty Teflon, I think. But now he's in Pawnee, apparently settled (unless he gets fired). The other thing to note that just slid on past us (didn't it?) was that Paul is apparently gone for good.
>Pawnee’s government still has a finite budget, and Ben’s still going to be realistic about that, even while he whole-heartedly believes Leslie’s the right person to make those tough calls.
I'm going to quibble on this one. Leslie is awful at making tough calls. Terrible at it. What she's great at is using her ingenuity and resources to make the pie bigger instead of figuring out who gets pie and who doesn't. Thing is, even in the Parks and Rec universe, she doesn't get to access the limitless trust fund of Bobby Newport every time she wants to do something. And every campaign idea she's trumpeted that I can think of (not doing an extensive rewatch at the moment!) involves the city spending more money. The police pensions, Ramp Up Pawnee, fixing up the airport, everything. Terrifically expensive, and on an ongoing basis, too. Aside from the campaign ad from when she's ten, I don't think she's mentioned the tax base once, and even then maybe she was talking about reducing, not increasing, taxes. She can do many awesome things as a politician, including inspire people and mobilize/motivate them, she can negotiate (hi, Ken Hotate), but making tough choices in a zero-sum game environment is not her forte. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but Ben's comment about it in the deleted scene rang oddly for me.
The whole part about how she talks Pillner into keeping Parks but then it's the animal shelter but then they fire Ann and turn the letter around to her in less than a day was utterly unbelievable, though. Just, no. They don't hire people that quickly and they don't fire people that quickly.
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I'm a little surprised this hasn't come up sooner, since as you pointed out, everything she proposes costs money. Ben's the budget guru, so it seems like he and she would have discussed how to pay for things, and the reality of tradeoffs wouldn't have caught her so off-guard at this point. That's been a little frustrating to me this season, because they're supposed to sound like great Leslie Knope ideas, but they've just sounded like empty campaign promises to me. I kind of wish there had been something more going on in Pawnee or its government where Leslie was campaigning on something particular she really wanted to change or accomplish, rather than just having her be obviously better than this one particular nitwit.
Boy, I want a lot from my sitcoms. Basically I want them to be one-hour dramedies.
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Yeah, no, I didn't mean he should question her ability to do the job. I meant that because I see it this way, Ben should too, because I'm smart, and so's Ben. And the way I see it is that the tradeoffs thing is precisely where her learning curve lies. She's not good at it now. (Ben, on the other hand, is good at it - witness his negotiations with Marlene, when Leslie wasn't freaking him out and sabotaging him.)
So maybe he was just expressing more of a "you'll figure it out" thing - because I think she has to figure that out, at least better than she does it right now. But other elements of politics she's great at. Even that moment in Comeback Kid, I thought she was almost going to pull the rabbit out of the hat during her speech - when she said "wow, this is the worst campaign event ever" - and was going to just start talking, just before what's-his-name came in with the basketball.
But I think you're right, that the 98% might test her more on council than it has so far in Parks.
> they're supposed to sound like great Leslie Knope ideas, but they've just sounded like empty campaign promises to me.
Yeah, and to get all wonky, she could have talked about, say, private businesses also kicking in money for Ramp Up Pawnee. In Harvest Festival and in Meet and Greet it was evident she can work with the business community, or at least recognizes their importance.
As you say, I also expect a lot. ARE YOU READING THIS, MIKE SCHUR ET AL?
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