Captain Miller didn’t bat an eye. “Yes, sir. I’ll take care of it. Where should he report to, and what is his uniform to be?”
I opened my mouth, but didn’t reply for a moment. “Captain, you seem to be smarter than I am. I like that! He needs to be at the Capitol by eight this evening, for when I get sworn in. You should probably get him to the residence at the Naval Observatory. We made sure he has all the uniforms he could need there. I would think that the Blue Dress Uniform is too much?”
“That’s more like a tuxedo, sir. He should wear his Service A uniform. We’ll let him know.”
“Okay.”
“With your permission, sir?” he asked.
“Thank you, Captain. I am sure we will be talking some more. I hope you get him here on time.”
“The difficult we do immediately. The impossible just takes a little longer.” He turned and left.
Josh smiled. “This situation sucks, Mister President, but we are going to make it work.”
I motioned him towards an armchair and moved to one opposite him. He sat down and I asked, “Are we going to be able to mesh the staffs?”
“Pretty much. Some of them really are Vice Presidential only, and will be on hold until you name somebody. Frank Stouffer will work out. He’s just awfully green at this…”
“Frank’s a quick study and has been with me since the campaign. Let’s see how he shapes up.”
Josh nodded. “… Agreed, sir. I’m not sure about your other fellow, Carter. The VP’s press guy doesn’t do much, and I don’t think it’s in his blood.” I was about to say something, but Josh held up a hand to forestall me. “That being said, he isn’t dumb. If he doesn’t work out in the press office, we can move him somewhere else. He’s the gay guy, right?”
“Is that a problem for you, Josh?” I asked. “Carter has been a smart and loyal staffer for me, going back to when I was in Congress.”
“Hey, it’s not a problem to me. I’m just saying, why’s he a Republican? Half the party wants to burn him on a cross!”
I snorted. “You know, I asked him that once, back when Rove wanted me to fire him. He told me that his sexuality is not what defines him, that even homosexuals can want a strong and safe government and a decent tax policy and a balanced budget.”
It was Bolten’s turn to snort and shrug. “I can’t argue with that. It just might be better to keep him out of the public eye.”
“Josh, if he can’t do the job or doesn’t like the job, that is one thing. I am not going to bury him in the basement to satisfy the religious right. Hell, they don’t like me anyway! If we are ever going to make this party relevant to young people again, we have to be more accepting to women, gays, Hispanics, blacks, you name it! We can’t remain a party of old white people. You know what happens to old white people?”
“What?”
“They become dead white people. We need some fresh blood in the Party, or I am going to be the last Republican President for a long time.”
Josh gave me a wry smile. “Good luck selling that one. Maybe you’re right, but we both know people who won’t want to hear it.”
“I ain’t blaming you, Josh. I’m just saying, numbers don’t lie. I know what they say about me, but you know I’m not about to start wearing a robe and praying to Lenin and Marx.”
“Mister President, I understand what you are saying. On the other hand, you must have heard the old saying about the problems with remembering that you are there to drain the swamp when you are up to your butt in alligators. We have a bunch of alligators, some of which you made.”
“By firing people.”
“Not to be blunt about it, but yes.”
“Fair enough,” I answered. “We are going to need to replace some people. Right now the important ones are going to be the FBI and the CIA. Cheney, too.” Josh looked distressed at that. “Josh, the man can barely be civil with me, let alone work with me. Whatever you feel about whatever direction you think I should be going in, you know we can’t work like that.”
He gave me a pained look, but nodded. “I understand, sir. It won’t be pretty, though.”
We spent the next half hour talking about possible personnel changes. Some of the best people might be qualified in more than one spot, others I didn’t know very well and he needed to get some background worked up for me. Anybody I selected would need to go through a Senate confirmation hearing, and it was a guarantee they would be scrutinized closely.
Before he left, he asked, “What about a new Vice President?”
“Add that to the list of alligators, Josh.”
He left and I ordered no more appointments or meetings for a few hours. I needed to think and to make a few phone calls. I had already learned I had a bunch of personal calls backing up, and it was time to clear some of them away. Marilyn was first, and I simply gave her the latest details on the schedule for the day, and that Charlie was going to be here for the swearing in. We’d be able to see him that evening and talk before sending him back to the Marines.
After I hung up I called Suzie at her house. She was at work, but her husband, John, was at home, having finished his shift. “Carl, is this for real!?” he asked.
“As real as it gets. How are you guys doing?”
“So far so good. We’ve had some reporters trying to bug us but I got the barracks to station a patrol car outside, and Suzie is going to get a ride home with a buddy.”
“That figures,” I told him. “I’m sorry about that, but I figure it will calm down in a day or two.”
He agreed. “Probably. Maybe I’ll get lucky and have to shoot somebody.”
“Sounds like fun. I can write you a pardon, you know,” I replied, laughing.
“I’ll pass that along.” Then he got serious. “What are we going to do about this? I talked to Jack last night. He managed to make a call from the Tarawa. Those guys are ready to bust! They want to go kill some people.”
“John, I can’t go into that, but if you are talking to him, tell him I agree. When it comes time, we’ll be going full bore on this, and if I need the Marines, he and Charlie will be remembered.”
He asked, “Have you talked to Charlie?”
“Not yet, but I am getting him brought here. I’m sure it will be a topic of conversation. He’ll be there tonight when I get sworn in. Watch it on television.”
“Yeah!”
“I have to go. Tell Suzie we’ll call over the weekend.”
“Take care.”
We hung up and I called Tusk Cycle next and talked to Tusker. I promised that we would get together as soon as possible. He told me that Marilyn had been talking to Tessa already about that. After a bit we hung up and I called the American Renaissance Initiative.
Actually, I don’t really make the call. Even the Presidential cell phones go through the White House switchboard in the Old Executive Office Building. All calls in or out go through there and are recorded. I’ve often wondered how many calls get there by an infant playing with Mom’s cell phone and just hitting buttons at random. You just knew it had to have happened! In my case, I simply lift the phone and tell them who I want to speak to and hang up. They call the other party, tell them to stay on the line, and then call me and make a connection.
So in this case I asked to talk to Marty Adrianopolis at ARI and then hung up. A few minutes later the phone rang and I picked it up and said, “Hello.”
“Carl, is that you? Is this for real?” I heard my old friend say.
“Hey, Marty, good to hear from you.”