The third man - part three

So, our boy has stood his ground in spite of all sorts of pressure to give in, and turned out to be right. He's worked with his political enemies for the good of the country, narrowly averting an ecomomic disaster that his enemies nearly caused.

How do they reward him? By undermining him at every opportunity. What does he do? He tries to do his business running the country.

A few months after the fiscal crisis was averted most people have forgotten that he vetoed the law that caused all the problems--that Congress overrode his veto and nearly plunged the country into an economic abyss. Now, POTUS is just seen as mild-mannered guy who attends mall openings and speaks at charity banquets.

One night there is an earthquake, not in California where one would expect, but in Tennessee, which is on a fault line but not an area that one would expect something of this magnatude--and this one was a doozy. Billions of dollars of property damage. Thousands of casualties. It's a disaster.

A few hours after the earthquake certain aide workers are given satellite phones and told to place a call if they need anything big--earth moving equipment, for example, or three tons of bottled water. They are told that the President has appointed a special czar to oversee the Federal response to this disaster. These phones are a direct line to this czar, who has enormous power and should be able to cut through red tape and make things happen. When the first of these people uses this phone he is shocked to find out that this czar is POTUS himself.

And he is there--everytime one of these aide workers makes a call, POTUS himself answers. Not a secretary. Not an assistant. Not a cabinet member. POTUS. And he by gawd makes things happen. You need a bull dozier, you'll get it, within hours if not minutes. You need someone evacuated to a hospital for emergency surgery--a helicopter will be there and a surgical team will be standing by.

In one area a minor bureaucrat--a promising young Democrat, as it happens--deliberately withheld assistance to a Republican district, strictly to make the Republican look bad. POTUS called the Dem and informed her that, as far as politics was concerned, her career was over--she didn't run for re-election and never ran for office again. And the Republican district got its help.

POTUS nearly worked himself into a heart attack--his doctor was extremely concerned and he suffered from sheer exhaustion. However, many people were helped, supplies got to where they needed to go, and many lives were saved. It's pretty much a concensus that his help was critical in keeping a terrible situation from becoming an unnending nightmare.

People remember that. They remember his leadership during the economic crisis, how he said the law was wrong and stood his ground, in spite of the fact that his veto would be overridden. They remember how he worked with those who tried to destroy his credibility, tried to make him irrelevant politically--he welcomed them into the Oval Office and listened to them and compromised when he really didn't have to, considering how unpopular those people were at the time.

POTUS goes from being a mild-mannered moderate Democrat to being enormously popular. Near the end of his first term a Congressman does not dare to thwart him, lest he find his office buried in tons of mail from angry constituents and himself targeted for defeat next election. POTUS is in demand as a speaker, his campaign war chest is full before the election cycle even starts, and he's mobbed everywhere he goes. At his speeches the crowds go wild when he's introduced, and also every time he pauses for breath.

His reelection campaign left his opponent's career a smoldering ruin of shattered dreams and never-to-be realized hopes. He won in a landslide. Having thousands of people who feel like they owe him--personally--their lives, didn't hurt, especially since many of them were so vocal in their support. There's serious thought to amending the Constitution to allow him a third and fourth term--his wife, though, put her foot down at that.

Anyways, he did all this by standing his ground, trusting his instincts, being true to himself. By being nice--he became famous for respecting and being well-mannered and polite to everyone. He never attacked anyone other than that one person during the earthquake crisis, and that person was a member of his own party. And deserved it.

So, the last half of his first term, and his entire second term, were tremendously successful. He was loved, popular, powerful. And now, it's all over, and he's going to become a private citizen again.

Next--Re-entry.