The Icarus Agenda

'Speaking of which, sir,' continued the White House communications expert, glancing at Kendrick and briefly smiling, 'in the absence of your political staff here in Los Angeles, I've approved Vice President Bollinger's statement of withdrawal tonight. It's in line with your thinking.'

'You mean he's going to shoot himself on television?'

'Not quite, Mr. President. He does say, however, that he intends to devote his life to improving the lot of the world's hungry.'

'If I find that mother stealing a chocolate bar, he's in Leavenworth for the rest of his life.'

'Beijing, sir. Shall I reconfirm?'

'You certainly may, and add my gratitude, the thieves.' Bryce nodded to Kendrick and Khalehla and left, again closing the door firmly behind him. 'Where were we?'

'Inver Brass,' replied Evan. 'They created me and artificially put me before the public as someone I'm not. Under those conditions my nomination could hardly be called the will of the people. It's a charade.'

'You're a charade?' asked Jennings.

'You know what I'm talking about. I neither sought it nor wanted it. As you put it so well, I was manipulated into the race and shoved down everyone's throat. I didn't win it or earn it in the political process.'

Langford Jennings studied Kendrick; the silence was both pensive and electric. 'You're wrong, Evan,' said the President finally. 'You did win it and you did earn it. I'm not talking about Oman and Bahrain, or even the still-under-wraps South Yemen—those events are simply acts of personal courage and sacrifice that have been used to initially call attention to you. It's no different from a man having been a war hero or an astronaut, and a perfectly legitimate handle to propel you into the limelight. I object to the way it was done as much as you do because it was done secretly, by men who broke laws and unconsciously wasted lives and hid behind a curtain of influence. But that wasn't you, they weren't you… You earned it in this town because you said things that had to be said and the country heard you. Nobody mocked up those television tapes and nobody put the words in your mouth. And what you did behind the scenes in those closed intelligence hearings had the Beltway choked with traffic jams. You asked questions for which there were no legitimate answers, and a hell of a lot of entrenched bureaucrats used to having their own way still don't know what hit them, except that they'd better get their acts together. Lastly, and this is from me, Lang Jennings of Idaho. You saved the nation from my most zealous contributors, and I do mean zealous, like in zealots. They would have taken us down a road I don't even want to think about.'

'You would have found them yourself. Some time, somewhere, one of them would have pushed you too far and you would have pushed back and found them all. I saw a man try to lean on you in the Oval Office, and he knew when a tree was about to fall on him.'

'Oh, Herb Dennison and that Medal of Freedom.' The President's world-famous grin momentarily came back to him as he laughed. 'Herb was tough but harmless and did a lot of things I don't like doing myself. He's gone now; the Oval Office did it for him. He got a call from one of those old firms on Wall Street, the kind where everyone's a member of some exclusive club no one can get into and you and I wouldn't want to, so he's heading back to the money boys. Herb finally got the colonel's rank he always wanted.'

'I beg your pardon?' said Kendrick.

'Nothing, forget it. National security, state secret, and all that other stuff.'

'Then let me make clear what we both know, Mr. President. I'm not qualified.'

'Qualified? Who in heaven or hell is qualified for my job? No one, that's who!'

'I'm not talking about your job—’

'You could be,' interrupted Jennings.

'Then I'm light years away from being ready for that. I never could be.'

'You are already.'

'What?'

'Listen to me, Evan. I don't fool myself. I'm well aware that I have neither the imagination nor the intellectual capacities of a Jefferson, either of the Adams, a Madison, a Lincoln, a Wilson, a Hoover—yes, I said Hoover, that brilliant, much maligned man—or an F.D.R., a Truman, a Nixon—yes, Nixon, whose flaw was in his character, not in his geopolitical overview—or a Kennedy, or even the brilliant Carter, who had too many brain cells for his own good politically. But we've come into a different age now. Drop Aquarius and insert Telerius… that's the full-grown age of television; instant, immediate communication. What I have is the trust of the people because they see and hear the man. I saw a nation wallowing in self-pity and defeat and I got angry. Churchill once said that democracy may have a lot of flaws but it was the best system man ever devised. I believe that, and I believe all those bromides about America being the greatest, the strongest, the most benevolent country on the face of the earth. Call me Mr. Simplistic, but I do believe. That's what the people see and hear and we're not so bad off for it… We all recognize reflections of ourselves in others, and I've watched you, listened to you, read everything there is to say about you, and talked at length with my friend, Emmanuel Weingrass. In my very sceptical judgment, this is the job you must take—almost whether you want it or not.'

'Mr. President,' broke in Kendrick softly, 'I appreciate everything you've done for the nation, but in all honesty there are differences between us. You've espoused certain policies I can't support.'

'Good Christ, I don't ask you to!… Well, on the surface, I'd appreciate your shutting up until you talked to me about the issues. I trust you, Evan, and I won't keep you out. Convince me. Tell me where I'm wrong—without fear or favour—that's what this goddamned office needs! I can get carried away on some things and know I should be pulled back. Ask my wife. After the last press conference two months ago, I walked into our kitchen upstairs in the White House and expected some kind of congratulations, I guess. Instead I got hit with “Who the hell do you think you are? Louis the Fourteenth with despotic powers? You made as much sense as Bugs Bunny!” And my daughter, who was visiting us, said something about giving me a book on grammar for my birthday… I know my limitations, Evan, but I also know what I can do when I have the best people to advise me. You got rid of the garbage! Now, step in.'

'I repeat—I'm not equipped.'

‘Oh but I think you are; I think you are. It's why the job is yours for the taking. Don't kid yourself, you may have been forced on the ticket, but to deny you would be an affront to millions of voters, the PR people made that clear.'

'PR? Public Relations? Is that what it's all about?'

'Far more than either of us would like, but yes, it's a large part of what everything's about these days. To say otherwise would be to deny reality. Better it's people like you and me than a Genghis Khan or an Adolf Hitler. Beneath our differences, we want to save, not destroy.'

It was Kendrick's turn to study the President of the United States. 'Good Lord, you are a charmer.'

'It's my stock-in-trade, Mr. Vice President,' said Jennings, grinning. 'That and a few honestly held beliefs.'

'I don't know. I just don't know.'

'I do,' interrupted Khalehla, reaching for Evan's hand. 'I think Field Officer Rashad should really resign.'

'Also something else,' said President Langford Jennings, his eyebrows arched. 'You should get married. It would be most unseemly for my running mate to be living in sin. I mean, can you imagine what all those evangelicals who deliver so many votes would do if your current status was revealed? It's simply not part of my image.'

'Mr. President, sir?'

'Yes, Mr. Vice President?'

'Shut up.'

'Gladly, sir. But I should like to add a note of clarification for the record—for God's sake, don't tell my wife I told you. After both our divorces we lived together for twelve years and had two children. We tied the proverbial knot in Mexico three weeks before the convention and predated the marriage. Now that's really a state secret.'