Then something happened which took him by surprise. In late March, ESPN, the sports network, did an interview of Charlie, one of those 'What happened to... ?' sorts of pieces. They had footage from the crash, and even the footage of him in Monrovia. Charlie was dressed in a nice suit and looked relaxed and comfortable, and most importantly, was well-spoken and articulate. Marilyn and I almost never watch the sports channels unless we have to, but we watched this show. I thought the best part was when the interviewer asked Charlie about the accident.
Q: "Do you recall the accident and what happened?"
A: "Somewhat. As soon as Bill went down in front of me, I knew I was going to be next, and I couldn't do anything about it. Then everybody began landing on me, and I just felt some incredible pain and blacked out. I came to the next day in the hospital."
Q: "How badly were you hurt?"
A: "Pretty bad. I think just about everything on my right side was broken." (At that he shook his right arm and leg.) "I had a couple of breaks in my right arm, and another half dozen in my right leg, and I don't know how many broken ribs on that side. Internally I was a mess, with internal bleeding and a messed up liver and kidney. I couldn't even talk at first, since they had me on a ventilator."
Q: "You're lucky to be alive!"
A: "Very much so. I was told that fifty years ago I would have probably died, and thirty years ago I might have lived but probably would have lost the leg or not been able to walk."
Q: "And now?"
A: "Well, I clank a little when I walk, from all the metal holding my leg together, but otherwise, I'm in good shape. I do a lot of exercise and rehab therapy, and am getting back to my old self."
Q: "Last year was your third straight AMA championship, though it was on accumulated points, since you missed the last two races completely. Will you be in shape for the season this year?"
A: "We're not sure yet. I'm not ready today, but we're going to make a decision in another month or two."
Q: "Let's talk about something different. It's no secret that you are the son of the President, one of the wealthiest men in the nation. There have been some who have claimed that you have used his money to buy your titles. How do you respond to them?"
At that point, Charlie could have gone off on an angry tirade, but he looked calm and composed. I guess he had some experience with that sort of question.
A: "Yes, my father is quite wealthy, but I have to say that if he was using his money on my behalf, it would be to get me to stop riding motorcycles! He and my mother think I'm crazy! What really happened was that when I got out of the Marines and said I wanted to give pro racing a try, he insisted that I develop a plan, a real business plan, with a budget and a timetable. My first sponsor was Tusk Cycle, and Jim Tusk insisted on a plan as well, before he made the investment. Beyond that first investment, my parents and the Tusks have given me no financial assistance."
Q: "What's it like growing up in the White House? Did you ever race motorcycles on the South Lawn?"
A: "I've never lived in the White House. By the time my father became the President, I had been in the Marines for two years. Really, for me, my real home is in Hereford, in Maryland, and yes, I did race on our lawn."
Q: "One final question – What did you think when you saw the news of your mother being arrested outside your hospital."
A: (Charlie's face lit up with a huge grin!) "Was that cool or what!? I loved it! Mom is simply AWESOME!"
I looked over at Marilyn, who gave me a rather smug look. "See? I'm awesome!"
I snorted out a laugh. "Awesome!"
Marilyn looked very happy indeed. "Awesome!", she repeated.
I thought Charlie did well on camera, and it seemed ESPN did, too. A month later, ESPN called him back, to see if he was interested in doing color commentary for them. ESPN2 was going to be broadcasting AMA motocross and thought he might make a good 'expert' about the sport. My son called me after he received the call from his agent, who was still listed as his agent even if he hadn't done anything since the accident. I told Charlie to give it a try, and maybe he'd like it, and maybe he'd be good at it. He called his agent and said yes, and was scheduled to begin with the first races of the season in May. It was a temporary thing, with him doing one or two races until they got the ratings and assessments back, but it kept him from having to go out and get a real job, and the money was quite interesting.
Marilyn and I made sure we watched when Charlie was to be on the air. It was interesting. Charlie didn't really spend a lot of time in the booth, but was handed a microphone and sent to the sidelines with a cameraman, to do interviews of the racers. I think the most interesting moment was when Charlie was interviewing one of the racers and asked what he considered about his prospects for the season, and the guy answered, "A hell of a lot better now that you're on the sidelines!" Charlie just laughed at that.
Marilyn and I never really watched all that much sports. I mean, we always watched the Super Bowl, but that was as much about the commercials as it was anything else. As a politician, though, I had to do some sports attendance and watching. If nothing else, I needed to seem like 'one of the guys' with my donators and fellow politicians, some of whom were very much into sports. Every year I would travel up to Baltimore, to Camden Yards, to throw out the first pitch of the season at the Orioles first home game. In addition, as the Fan in Chief, it was required that I call up the winners in most championships and congratulate them, whether I gave a damn or not. I stopped caring about football when the Colts left Baltimore, but I had to call the winner of the Super Bowl and congratulate them, an act that really bugged the hell out of me in February last year when the Indianapolis Colts won the Super Bowl. I was tempted to tell them where to head in, but Frank convinced me to behave. At least I never had to congratulate anybody for beating the Orioles in the World Series.
Meanwhile the primaries churned on through the spring. As soon as it was definite that Barack Obama was going to be the Democratic nominee, I asked John to see me. Something very nasty was about to hit the nation, and I wanted to stop it.
Everybody was proclaiming that the selection of Barack Obama as a national nominee was proof that racism was dead, that America had entered a glorious period where we had managed to put the sins of the past behind us, and we were now truly a nation without race. You sort of expected this blather from the liberals, but even the conservatives were babbling on about this. Of course they weren't going to vote for him but after all, Barack Obama was a liberal, not a conservative, so they couldn't be blamed for that.
What wasn't so pleasant was the underlying tone out of the conservatives. Barack Hussein Obama shouldn't be elected, not because he was black, but because he wasn't American! His father was from Kenya. He had been born in Hawaii. He had lived overseas as a child. His father was Muslim. Where was his birth certificate? He was actually a secret Muslim. He hated Christians and wanted to sell America out to Iran and the terrorists. The conspiracy theorists were working overtime on this.
The Republicans mostly kept their mouths shut during the primaries. The hard core base of the party had enough to do running down Mitt and John that they didn't need to branch out to the Dems. Besides, they hated both Democratic front runners! To the party base, Hillary Clinton was just as hated as her husband had ever been. They would have been just as foaming mad crazy if she had won the nomination, probably claiming that Bill was secretly running the country from his liberal Democratic bunker.