Power Games: Operation Enduring Unity I Read Free Page A

everything that’s wrong with our governing system. Sadly, the cold reality of the current political situation is that we have no choice. The only way to break the gridlock in Washington is to bring in a strongman. Someone that can bring both parties together and force them to cooperate.” He stretched back into his chair and puffed out his cheeks. “Even if the only reason is because he knows where all the bodies are buried.”
    The congressman forced out a smile, his eyes pleading with Jessica for understanding.
    “Look on the bright side. By caving in, we’ve already won the key legislative points on our agenda. The leadership of each party hammered out the details of who gets what as part of the ‘Grand Bargain.’ Both liberals and conservatives just hit the political jackpot. If we had gone with Dimone, we would have seen another four years of hopeless legislative stagnation. The political ill will would be unrepairable.”
    A staffer tried to shut him up and Jessica pumped him for more questions, but he was in the zone. Some of that idealism and energy from the campaign trail seeped back into his voice.
    “It may be the stereotypical ‘smoke-filled backroom deal,’ but that’s the only way to make progress nowadays. I don’t mean just more convenient, but the only way. Come on, you’re in the news business. You know the effect those cameras have on people: instant radicalization.”
    Jessica chewed on her pen. “So this is just business as usual?”
    “Not at all. We’re on the verge of a renaissance in American politics. You’ve seen how things have been. If the Japs had attacked Pearl Harbor this last year, we never would have declared war. We’d still be debating and accusing each other of this and that while the Japanese occupied California. Our legislative system is a joke these days, but we finally figured out how to break the logjam. How to usher in a new golden age, and this black-robed mafia wants to throw away all that progress.”
    He sprang out of his chair, shaking his fist harder than his head. “That cannot be allowed. I tell you all this because I want you to understand what’s really at stake when you’re spinning your coverage. Congress and the American people have little to lose and everything to gain. No matter how things turn out, the presidential succession won’t be decided in the courts this time. It’s with us or in the streets, and wouldn’t you prefer an orderly, even if distasteful election, to mob rule?”
    If her networked had aired the entire interview her cameraman secretly obtained with his hidden digital recorder, people would have been relieved at his honesty. Since Jessica’s chief editor decided to run with a few cherry-picked blurbs, the context was thoroughly lost. Of course, that didn’t matter as much as the spike in sales generated by the headline: “ Congress has nothing to lose and everything to gain” by defying the Supreme Court.



Inauguration Day
    20 January: 1000
    Pierce’s swearing-in ceremony on the Capitol building steps was probably the worst in history. Downright embarrassing, really. More a Saturday Night Live parody than a display of political power. Naturally, no one from the Supreme Court attended. Even the lame duck sitting president didn’t bother showing up.
    The president’s term in office ended at noon, but he didn’t seem ready to go anywhere. He had no legal support, either in the House or with the courts. Not a leg to stand on. Only his party’s slim majority in the Senate kept impeachment at bay, but those weekly votes to start the impeachment process gathered a few defecting senators every time. By this point, it would take just a couple of his supporters changing their minds to lose the majority, and his job.
    The only thing keeping those senators on his side was public opinion. The president had always been relatively popular and, now playing the “wise old statesman” role, his public support skyrocketed. While it