2030

by Albert Brooks

  “You don’t have Betsy now. That’s not an option. You must use your cabinet and John and as many people in Congress as you can. You’ve let them get the lead on this and playing catch-up is too tough.”

  Bernstein knew she was right. He also knew that when the sun came up the next day, the whole world would know that the President and his wife had separated, and the timing could not have been worse. “No one will listen to me about the hijacking or anything else,” the President said. “All they are going to talk about is the divorce. There is no precedent for this. I can’t even go to the history books to see how other presidents handled it. I am in a weak position, Susanna. I don’t know what to do.” Susanna took control. She believed him when he said he didn’t know what to do, so someone needed to take over. It might as well be her.

  “Matthew.” It was the first time she called him by his first name and it sounded strange. “You need to address the divorce yourself and keep it separated from everything else. One thing has nothing to do with the other and you need to make that clear. If it were me, I would address the issue with your wife in a national broadcast tomorrow night and give it your spin and leave it at that. I also think you can talk more about the hijacking in the same speech. As a matter of fact, it might say to the people that business goes on as usual. And that you are in control.”

  At that moment the door to the Oval Office opened. Standing there was John Van Dyke. The President’s assistant was standing next to him, looking upset. “I told him you were in a meeting, but he didn’t care.”

  “It’s okay,” the President said. Van Dyke looked at Susanna, looked at the President, then turned around and left without saying a word.

  “What just happened?” Susanna asked.

  “I’m not sure,” the President said. “I think when it rains it pours. I’m afraid you’re going to have to stay late and help me with the speech. Is that all right, will you do that?”

  “Of course.”

  And at that moment Susanna Colbert realized she was now unofficially the second most important person in the United States.

  CHAPTER FIFTY-FIVE

  When the country found out the next day that Betsy Bernstein and her husband were no longer together, it was as if an atom bomb had dropped. By that evening, when the President spoke to the nation—against John Van Dyke’s advice—the whole world was watching.

  He presented their marriage as that of any man and woman and said that even the president was not immune to the problems of the heart, that sometimes people were better off not being together. He said he related to the average couple who had gone through these problems and he wished his wife well, and told the world he would always love her. He also assured the country that even though he might be lonely for a while, the government would run as smoothly as ever and life must go on. He cut short any talk about the hijacking, only telling the relatives of the deceased that they were always in his prayers, and he signed off by saying that his love of his country was the greatest love in his life and America had won in the battle for his affections. He ad-libbed that last part and was rather pleased with it. All in all, he thought the speech was a success. He was wrong.

  When the address was over Stanley Markum called his son-in-law and asked if he saw it. “Of course,” Shen said.

  “He’s through,” Markum declared. “He will never be reelected.”

  “Why?”

  “Because if a woman won’t stay with you then she knows something. You have a defect and you shouldn’t be president.”

  “Is that true?”

  “It’s true if you say it’s true. The trick is saying it so it doesn’t sound mean.”

  “I guess you’re right,” Shen said. “Now that I think about it, it does make a man look defective.”

  “You’re damn right. We’ll find a way to use it against him, you mark my words.”

  Shen didn’t know exactly what the senator meant. It almost sounded like Stanley Markum was going to run for president. But that wasn’t what his father-in-law had in mind.

  * * *

  The thirties had become a decade of firsts. The first glimmering of a health care system that might actually make sense. The first time a country invited another in to help with its problems and agreed to share its wealth. The first time a president and his wife split up while in office. There was one more first that was long overdue, and Stanley Markum felt that time had come.

  It had been talked about decades ago when it looked as though Arnold Schwarzenegger was the most popular man in America, but as his approval rating sank, so did the movement to amend the Constitution. But now it was different. Shen Li had taken America by storm. His ideas were smart, he was charming, he’d married the perfect woman, and his father-in-law had the power, the desire, and the ability to get this amendment finally passed.

  Shen had already been made a citizen; he was the best representative of the country that had come to save America. Why couldn’t he go all the way? It was always Laura’s plan and now, finally, it seemed possible.

  Senator Markum anticipated no problem with Congress. The only issue was whether the states would ratify it, but why wouldn’t they? They were all lining up to get their own makeovers. All that was needed was money. And a lot of it. This needed an expensive and well-organized campaign. Enter Nate Cass.

  * * *

  Charles Cass did not go to prison, but the embarrassment of his trial and the publicity that ensued only hardened his brother’s position against Matthew Bernstein. Nate didn’t know how or when he would pay the President back for not “thanking him,” but the stars aligned perfectly when he met Stanley Markum one evening at a charity event in the summer of 2031.

  Cass never considered himself a conservative; he played the field and supported candidates he thought would be good for business. But he liked Shen Li. Li’s smaller health centers were catching on and Nate, who was big in this industry, saw a windfall in building and running these kinds of places; to him it seemed an even bigger idea than Compassionate Care.

  After several umbrella drinks, Nate Cass and Stanley Markum bonded, and Nate thought that allowing a foreign-born naturalized citizen to run for president of the United States was a fine idea, especially if it was Shen Li, and especially if it was against Matthew Bernstein. It was at that dinner that Nate Cass realized exactly where he could spend his money and exactly how he would get even. He would contribute the lion’s share to the fifty-state campaign to ratify the twenty-eighth amendment to the Constitution.

  All they needed were thirty-eight states, but both Cass and the senator thought they could get all fifty. If Los Angeles had not worked out, none of this could have happened, but because it was being perceived as a major success, it would show the other states what was possible with a man like Li. A massively expensive ad campaign, if it was handled right, would have Americans begging for the amendment. Cass was so enthused that night when he left the event that he almost felt sorry for the President. He said to his new wife, “If that son of a bitch had only helped me, I wouldn’t bring him down like this, but I have no choice. And it’ll be good for business.”

  * * *

  Three weeks after going to Chicago, Kathy Bernard was transferred to a state prison in Illinois. She shared a cell with another woman who was accused of murdering her husband. Kathy felt like her life had ended. Even the murderous cellmate looked at her with disgust because she had the label “terrorist” attached to her crime. The women in that prison were strangely conservative. You could kill another person, especially if it was a man, but try to take down the country and you were some kind of child molester.

  Clyde Folsom had secured an attorney who came highly recommended. He took the lawyer to meet Kathy in prison and afterward she felt extremely depressed. She was grateful that Clyde would help her out with what would certainly be enormous fees, but she didn’t like the lawyer and thought he wasn’t smart. She couldn’t say anything—beggars can’t be choosers—but when Clyde came to visi
t her alone a week later, she expressed concern that the attorney was not good enough. Clyde was insulted, but he listened. He thought the lawyer was just fine and was a little miffed at Kathy for complaining.

  “Kathy, he comes highly recommended. He has friends in the government. A lot of strings are going to have to be pulled to get this resolved. You know that, right?”

  “Of course. I’m sorry. I just felt he wasn’t as passionate about it as you or I might be. I guess I was expecting something else.”

  “Listen, dear, it’s not about passion. It’s about who you know and what favors you can call in, and from what I understand he is very, very connected. My God, he certainly is charging enough.”

  Kathy realized that Clyde was right. Of course the lawyer would be fine. And without Clyde, God knows what attorney she would have gotten. Some shitty public defender. She apologized for even questioning it.

  And as it turned out, Clyde Folsom chose well. It took almost six months but the attorney convinced the prosecution that Kathy Bernard was not an accomplice; she had merely chosen her friends poorly, which even in 2031 was not yet a crime. The good news was that Kathy got her job back and continued to be Clyde’s very best employee. The bad news was that after adding the attorney’s fees to the medical loan, she was now well over a million dollars in debt. But Clyde reassured her.

  “Don’t worry,” he said, “there’re a lot of houses out there to be sold. You’ll be fine.” And even though Kathy wasn’t much for irony, as she arrived at work each day she could not ignore the fact that her very best friend in the world was about to turn eighty-seven.

  * * *

  When the President announced that he would run for another term, it wasn’t a surprise. There was no Democrat who was going to compete with a sitting president. But when John Van Dyke turned in his resignation and said that he would not be part of another Bernstein administration, it caught the President unprepared.

  Van Dyke had seemed to accept the new order in the White House. He seemed willing to work for a President who was divorced and in love with a cabinet member, willing to be third in line, after Susanna. But it wasn’t true. And one Friday, before he left for home, he came to see the President and put his letter of resignation on his desk.

  “Do I have to read this?” Bernstein asked.

  “I will not be helpful to you any longer. I have loved our relationship, but it’s time for both of us to move on. You and I have always seen eye to eye, but no more, I fear. You deserve someone who is always on your side.”

  The President looked at the letter. It was simple, just two sentences stating that Van Dyke was leaving. He asked John to sit down. He would accept the letter, but after twenty years this at least deserved a conversation.

  “You are my right arm. You know that, don’t you, John?”

  “I was. Not anymore.”

  “It’s not true. I know you’re jealous of Susanna, but it’s silly. You both are helpful to me. Why is that wrong?”

  “It’s not wrong, Mr. President. But when you were married to Betsy, your decisions came from our discussions, not the discussions you had with her. It no longer runs that way. I now wait to find out how you’re going to approach each day. I’m not the first one in the loop any longer and it doesn’t make sense anymore.”

  The President didn’t have it in him to convince Van Dyke to stay. He could see that the decision was made, and he had learned a long time ago that if someone actually wrote a resignation letter, they had reached a point of no return. He recalled years earlier when his chief aide in Congress had resigned, but Bernstein had begged him not to leave. The aide stayed and the next year was miserable for the both of them. He didn’t want that to happen again. “John, I will miss you. You are a really good man and I know you will do something great. I hope I at least have your support in the next election.”

  “I’ll vote for you, if that’s what you’re asking.”

  The President smiled. He got up and gave his chief of staff a bear hug. He whispered in his ear, “Don’t turn on me, John. Don’t write a book.”

  CHAPTER FIFTY-SIX

  The opening of the new football stadium in downtown Los Angeles was a major event. It was a beautiful site with monorails providing transportation directly into the arena. And it was surrounded by ongoing construction; new condominiums, office buildings, and three hotels that looked as though they would be finished within a year. It was the kind of downtown that Los Angeles had always dreamed about, but never could accomplish.

  The rest of the city was taking shape and it was equally magnificent. No other American city looked like it. Finally, America had made a leap into the future. It had taken a disaster to make it happen, but it happened nonetheless, and the rest of the country was jealous.

  The Chinese who were in charge of the project became folk heroes. The architect, Lee Dong Wo, and the health minister, Shen Li, were idolized everywhere they went. It was lucky for Li that Wo had no ambitions to run for office. It would have been hard to pick between the two of them. But as it turned out, only Shen Li was primed to make a historic move.

  On September 9 and 10, 2031, both houses of Congress unanimously passed the twenty-eighth amendment to the Constitution of the United States, allowing a naturalized citizen of foreign birth to run for the highest office in the land. With Nate Cass’s help, ratifying it with three-quarters of the states was easy. All they did was make an ad campaign that showed Los Angeles and said, “This can happen to you if you allow the best and the brightest in the world to love America.”

  Before this, the fastest a constitutional amendment had ever been ratified was the amendment giving the vote to eighteen-year-olds, and that had taken three months. But with Cass’s money and the country’s desire for China’s help, the twenty-eighth amendment was ratified in three weeks time by all the states except Alabama and Mississippi. And by Thanksgiving of 2031, the die was cast.

  * * *

  With his wife and his father-in-law by his side, Shen Li announced his candidacy for president of the United States. It didn’t really come as a surprise. People knew they were amending the Constitution for a reason and that Li was that reason. But from the moment he announced, the crowds he attracted were humongous. Not for decades had people seen such enthusiasm. Latinos, who were now in the majority in the United States, loved this man. He represented something that they thought was long overdue. Since many of their relatives had come here from other countries, to finally see someone who was not born in the U.S. be allowed to participate at the highest level—well, it was about time.

  But it was the health issue that really put Li over. He could point to China and now Los Angeles and promise the people something new. He promised that if he were president he would work to get his smaller clinics in every city in America. He promised that the nurses that ran these centers would know the patients’ names and care for them like relatives. And he promised that if they needed surgery, the robots would allow the greatest doctors in the world to perform the operations at a lower cost than ever before. Whether it was all true made no difference; everyone believed him. Millions of people wore holographic buttons with Li’s picture and the slogan “A President Who Cares.” He equated the president of the United States to the health of the country and it was powerful. And it was something that caught Matthew Bernstein by surprise.

  * * *

  Bernstein had not married Susanna Colbert, but he did make her his chief of staff, and she was now with him eighteen hours a day. They slept together six times, but it wasn’t meant to be. She didn’t want to leave her husband and she convinced the President that they both could get everything they wanted from each other without having sex. And he understood.

  She would work until two in the morning if he needed her and then be there for him at eight A.M. This arrangement allowed the President to not appear as if he had ditched one woman for another, though that was what the opposition was trying to make people think.

  One day, out of
the blue, the President asked Susanna Colbert if she had any thoughts why Nate Cass had supported the twenty-eighth amendment. Wasn’t he a friend? Why would he campaign for something that could only hurt her? Susanna decided to come clean. She had held it in for so long, it felt good just to tell him the truth. But Bernstein was not happy with what he heard. “I appreciate that you were concerned about getting me involved in his case,” he said, “but you leave that for me to decide. You don’t make any decisions that could come back and bite me in the ass, like it’s doing now. You will always consult me in the future. Is that clear?”

  “Yes, Mr. President.” Susanna thought about trying to get out of this by telling him that she had informed John Van Dyke, but she decided to take the blame and be done with it. “I’m sorry I made the decision without telling you. It just seemed like it was the last thing you needed to hear at the time. I did not want you involved in something illegal.” Bernstein gave her a nod.

  “It’s okay, Susanna. You might have lost the election for us, but it’s okay.”

  Susanna knew he wasn’t kidding.

  * * *

  It was clear who Robert Golden and Paul Prescott supported. Shen Li was the no-nonsense candidate when it came to stopping the violence toward the olds. They loved his Chinese roots; they loved the fact that China stopped these kinds of protests before they ever got started. And so did their members.

  Though the elderly had it rough in every part of the world, the mystique of the Asians treating them with respect was still alive, and AARP kept up the legend by advertising that message heavily. One ad said, “Only Li knows how to treat you right; it’s in his blood.”

  Violence against the elderly did not disappear during the election year, but Li’s strong comments forced the President to play catch-up, and before Bernstein knew it, he was campaigning on the defensive. He was spending time at his rallies answering charges from every group. Yes, he was tough on elder abuse. Yes, he did want more personalized health care. Yes, he did think that China had done a brilliant job with Los Angeles.