Jed Bartlet's 7 Best And 7 Worst Episodes Of The West Wing

"Liftoff" marks CJ's first episode officially serving President Bartlet as his chief of staff. As expected, it's an overwhelming leap from press secretary to chief of staff. CJ must deal with reams of reading material, increased secret service security, the needs of all the staff she now supervises, and the insolence of the Secretary of Defense Miles Hutchinson, among a dozen or so other things. CJ finds her stride by the end of the episode — no thanks to the president.

After Hutchinson circumvents CJ in order to sway the president's opinion on a matter pertaining to the Department of Defense, CJ is irritated and Jed is no help. Of course, CJ needs to rein in Hutchinson and many of the other people whose interests she must balance in consideration of the president's time, but he could at least say, "Hey, Miles, you know there are specific channels you need to go through and just because Leo is no longer my chief of staff doesn't mean they don't still apply." Instead, he just takes whatever anyone hands him. Way to undermine your new right-hand woman, Jed.