Frank capped the bottle and put it back in the sideboard. "Neither one of us needs any more of this, and you don't need to be hanging around the office if you have any more."
"True enough. I'll be known as the American Boris Yeltsin! I'll be fine, Frank. I just think I need to go upstairs and forget about the day. I need to tell Marilyn and the kids the news. Did you know my daughters have never met my parents? Charlie did, once, when he was still in diapers, but he doesn't remember them. Marilyn refused to allow my parents to even touch him! They've never met any of my aunts or uncles or cousins. How screwed up is that?"
"I'll see you tomorrow, Mister President."
"I'll see you tomorrow, Frank, and I won't be hung over, either, I promise."
"Good night, sir."
I told Marilyn, and she told the kids. Afterwards we ate dinner and watched television silently. The images simply flickered across my vision, however. My mind was on my history, my life on the first go and on this one. Was there ever a way to have kept a relationship with any of my family? Mom was crazy, but not Dad. Dad was weak. Did I still miss him after thirty years? Or did I miss some fictional version of my father that I had never really known?
The story came out, and Will issued the 'private family matter' response. It made the national evening news but didn't get more than about 30 seconds. Some of the tabloids tried for more, and managed to snag a few interviews from cousins who had written me off back in the old days and had since come to the realization that they had also written off potential megabucks. Only one of my cousins had ever tried to contact me, and that was for money for a business. I dumped it on Jake Junior at the time and told him to apply our standard methods to evaluate it for investment. It failed the test and I had Jake inform him. I never heard from any of them since that.
Suzie called and gave me a report after the funeral. It turned out that Dad was buried next to Hamilton, and that Mom still had a plot next to Dad. The nuclear family from Hell.
Chapter 172: Campaign 2008
There wasn't going to be a whole lot of grand legislation going on in 2008. This was an election year, and it was going to be a big one. We would start off with the primaries, which would take up most of the late winter and early spring. After that we would have a brief lull through the summer, and then go into the conventions. After the conventions it would be full out bloody warfare. This was on top of the regular fun and games. Every House seat was up for election, as were one in three Senate seats. The chance of actually accomplishing anything was remote at best.
That wasn't to say nothing would get passed. Both the Democrats who ran the Senate and the Republicans who controlled the House could be counted on to pass some bills that had absolutely zero chance of ever getting through because they would never be passed by the other house. It didn't matter what the bill was for, the real purpose was to attach a name to a bill or to a vote against a bill. "Congressman Blathermouth voted against food stamps for hungry children! It's time to fire Congressman Blathermouth!" Well, that's not really what happened. The bill that was voted on was actually about raising taxes in Congressman Blathermouth's district, so when he voted that down, he also voted down the food stamp increase rider. Both sides played this game. Congressman Blathermouth would take the same vote and trumpet about how he held the line on taxes, so re-elect him so he can continue leading the fight.
I did expect to get some legislation passed, but it would be mostly bills supplemental to other bills that were already in place. For instance, last year I had pushed through a five year extension on some major infrastructure spending bills – bridges, highways, water and sewer improvements, canal locks, and such – and this year we would need to pass the proper budget and spending bills. How much that was going to cost in special appropriations and earmarks in order to buy recalcitrant politicians I wasn't sure yet.
It was amusing in a way. Every year you had various Congressional leaders who would hoot and holler about the pernicious effects of earmarks, and how they were nothing but bribery using the taxpayers' money. They would promise to ban all earmarks, and make all government spending more transparent. God save us if that ever actually happens! If a little bribery is needed to pass a piece of important legislation, then pay the damn bribe! For my money, politics was the art of the possible, and some appropriately spread around cash made a lot of stuff much more possible.
You actually don't use the earmarks to line anybody's pocket. That would be illegal. Instead you use the money to fund a project or lower a tax for somebody back in your district. If the thankful citizens and businesses in your district wish to reward your outstanding performance with a campaign contribution, well that that's just peachy!
America has the best government money can buy. As for efficiency, well, that's a different matter.
In 2004 I ran for re-election, and as far as the Republican Party was concerned, I ran unopposed. Ron Paul tried to run against me, but I don't remember him getting a single vote. Now, in 2008, we actually had a race. John McCain was the front runner, and the presumptive winner. Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee were the only other major players in the game. Everybody else, and there were probably another half dozen candidates running in Iowa and New Hampshire, was praying for a miracle.
John had everything going for him, as long as we didn't step on our cranks. That was why the Secret Service scandal was so troublesome. John's theme was simple – "Four More Years!" I was nowhere near as unpopular as George Bush would have been at this point. The things that sank GWB – two very unpopular wars, a disastrous response to Hurricane Katrina, and government spending that was completely out of control and had us trillions in debt – those things just weren't tainting me. Meanwhile I had managed to win my war, had at least partially fixed some immigration issues, and was pushing a relatively popular infrastructure repair plan. The economy was strong, we had gotten through the Katrina recession, and although we still had Wall Street and housing bubbles, they weren't anywhere near as crazy as they could have been.
John's mantra was simple. Keep him in place to keep the good times rolling. We were the grown-ups, and we knew what we were doing. John had been at the heart of all the wonderful things President Buckman had done, so let's keep him in office to keep it all going!
Mitt and Mike were at the two extremes of the party. Mitt was pushing that he was the strong business leader, having run Bain Capital at the same time I had been running the Buckman Group, and we needed to run the country like a business. It wasn't something we could really use, but I told both John and the top campaign people that Mitt wasn't all that great a businessman. The Buckman Group had eaten Bain Capital's lunch on more than one occasion. In addition, Bain Capital had much more of a shark mentality to it then I had with the Buckman Group. We had invested our money along with our clients. Bain had typically invested in takeovers that left the target company highly leveraged. Bain got its money out in fees and preferential treatment; if the target company went belly up or laid off workers, Bain had made their money already. The Buckman Group got its money out in stock appreciation, warrants, and options. The risk is greater, but the upside is very, very nice!