“The House will be seated. Honored Senators, fellow Representatives, and welcome guests, it is my high privilege and a distinct honor to introduce to you the president of the United States, the honorable William Baldridge Eastman.”
Again the full house took to its feet, reviving the thundering applause, which continued unabated for the following three minutes, an ovation that gave Daniel Rawlings a prickly sensation down his spine. His hands were beginning to numb from the constant applause, which had lasted nearly fifteen minutes since Eastman’s entry.
Off to Rawlings’ right, the First Lady and her two sons, plus their wives, stood, the entire family smiling as the president accepted this acknowledgment of his accomplishments. During the annual State of the Union address nine months earlier, Eastman had announced the admission of Puerto Rico as the fifty-first state of the Union, and added two senators and one representative to the ranks of national legislators, who were biannually elected and sent to Washington to facilitate the acquisition of a “fair and just share” of the redistribution of wealth-a dubious accomplishment for which Washington D.C. had become known worldwide.
As the president stepped to the podium, Rawlings thought of Nicole and regretted her absence. She belonged here even more than he did. But for her actions, he wouldn’t be alive to be here at all.
Connor must have caught his wistful gaze because he leaned toward Rawlings and whispered, “I’m sure she’s watching on TV.”
“Probably, Colonel. I talked to her an hour ago, but the nurse in charge cut the call short.”
“It’d take more than a bullet to stop her, Dan. She’s tough,” Connor commented.
“How well I know,” Dan replied, a quick, bone-chilling vision of that dreadful night when he had come face-to-face with his mortality filling his mind.
William Eastman stood behind the lectern, surveying the room and the assembled legislators. He smiled briefly at his family and glanced upward toward Connor and Rawlings, momentarily catching Rawlings’ eye and nodding slightly.
“Americans all,” the president began. “Indeed, Americans all. For nearly four hundred years, Europeans, Asians, Africans, Hispanics, Polynesians, and many others from around the globe have migrated to this blessed land to join our Native American brothers and sisters in forming this nation, built from many ideals. Their work was inspired and, yes, occasionally flawed. Nevertheless these ideals have brought us a long way in the past four hundred years. Americans all,” he repeated boldly, and was again greeted with a standing ovation.
A skilled and inspired orator, President Eastman always had been able to find the right chord in his audience. He had the uncanny ability to touch the patriotism button and enlist support for his goals, a talent Dan Rawlings had recently observed firsthand. He motivated people as much by his fervor for the cause as by the relative importance of the event.
“I thought that perhaps tonight, given our current state of national disunity, I would dispense with the usual presidential political hyperbole, discard the pre-distributed speech-which, by the way, should completely destroy the media analysis which has already been prepared to debunk most of what they think I intend to say-and simply lay it on the line, speak from the heart. Perhaps, since this is my last opportunity to speak to this august body, and I no longer have the need to consider reelection, this occasion lends itself to a candid appraisal as well,” he said with a broad smile, invoking a burst of laughter from the assembly.
“As the idea of an independent America began,” Eastman continued, “we had the opportunity to avail ourselves of the combined knowledge and best thinking of the previous centuries. Certainly, we had to fight our way free, and in the heat of that battle, we formed the basis for our new nation: Freedom and equality for all, even if it did take us another hundred years to extend that freedom to all who lived here. ‘EPluribusUnum,’ the Founding Fathers declared. ‘Out of many, one!’
“And now, it seems one of the states in this blessed Union has made that determination for itself, has given us reason to pause, has caused us to consider our diversity and our increasingly intrusive federal system-has sought to bid us farewell.”
This was unlike any previous presidential address Rawlings had ever heard. Almost a history lesson, absent party rhetoric contrived to take the credit and shift the blame. Indeed, Rawlings sat enthralled as Eastman seemed to throw caution to the wind and speak what he perceived to be the truth. It was evident that Eastman was building to something, and it wasn’t just the traditional regurgitation of accomplishments during the prior year.
“Americans all,” he reiterated, “‘with malice toward none, with charity for all,’ as President Lincoln said. And as Alexander Hamilton once said, ‘Here, sir, the people govern.’ Mighty words, if true. But are they still true? Or have we abandoned the principles for which this nation once stood? How did we get to this point in history? A cursory study of history will show us. We’ve allowed secret combinations of devious men, and occasionally women, to meet together in clandestine gatherings, to undermine the very fabric of our society. Don’t for a moment think it is only the criminal element. More of those secret meetings were held in this building than were convened on Wall Street.
“We used to call it the ‘smoke-filled back room,’ and with some degree of humor, we caricatured the participants in political cartoons as ‘party hacks.’ Of course we each like to think it was only the other party that acted that way.” Laughter followed his attempt at humor. “Since those days, we’ve come a long way in the art of deception. To see things as they really are is not quite so easy in this technologically advanced world. With the technology at hand, we could fill this room with holograms,” he said, his arms gesturing in a sweeping motion, “with the images of everyone who once served here. And who would know they weren’t their actual ghosts?”
Rawlings could see Judge Wentworth, Colonel Connor’s former boss at the CIA, seated in a front row position next to Director Granata. Both men kept their composure as President Eastman addressed these new, sensitive areas. Although operatives from both the CIA and FBI reported to Colonel Connor, Rawlings knew that Connor, as the head of the president’s task force, reported directly to the president or vice president, and that the task force members were also precluded from directly reporting to their home agency. Was Eastman really going to deliver their devastating findings here, in this forum?
“Well over a year ago,” Eastman continued, “when the clamor for secession became a reality, and long before the California legislature convened their constitutional committee intent on following through with the ‘divorce,’ I directed the formation of a small, confidential task force to investigate the origins of the secessionist movement. Not the reasons we see each night on the news, but the real purposes behind the facade. Their findings were-well, let’s just say they opened the proverbial can of worms. But then, as my granddaddy used to say, ‘You need big worms to catch big fish.’”
Eastman again looked up at Rawlings and Connor, taking a sip of water as he paused. Looking toward his family, he smiled and continued.
“As one new political entity has recently gained admission to the Union, another, to our dismay, has sought to withdraw, with attendant bloodshed and chaos. In the face of this, I have had cause to consider how Lincoln must have felt as he saw the nation beginning to crumble around him, with the Deep South standing firm for what they believed to be their right to defend their way of life. Today, the secret combinations of which I speak have no such noble aspirations. The almighty dollar is their primary motivation, but mark my words, this will not stand!” he trumpeted, emphasizing each word by pounding on the lectern. His sudden fervor electrified his audience, most sitting up straighter, intent on the rising fervor in the president’s demeanor. Rawlings noticed that the members on the floor had begun to divide their response to Eastman’s remarks, with pro and con factions beginning to murmur their opinions.