to the people who watch the interview tonight,' van Damm advised. 'Expect a hit on the court thing.'
'Who leaked that?' Ryan demanded crossly.
'We'll never know, and trying to find out only makes you look like Nixon.'
'Why is it that no matter what I do, somebody— damn,' Ryan sighed as Mary Abbot finished with his hair. 'I told George Winston that, didn't I?'
'You're learning. If you help some little old lady to cross the street, some feminist will say that it was condescending. If you don't help her, the AARP will say you're insensitive to the needs of the elderly. Throw in every other interest group there is. They all have agendas, Jack, and those agendas are a lot more important to them than you are. The idea is to offend as few people as possible. That's different from offending nobody. Trying to do that offends everybody,' the chief of staff explained.
Ryan's eyes went wide. 'I got it! I'll say something to piss everybody off—and then they'll all love me.'
Arnie wasn't buying: 'And every joke you tell will piss somebody off. Why? Humor is always cruel to someone, and some people just don't have a sense of humor to begin with.'
'In other words, there's people out there who want to get mad at something, and I'm the highest-profile target.'
'You're learning,' the chief of staff observed with a grim nod. He was worried about this one.
'WE HAVE MARITIME Pre-Positioning Ships at Diego Garcia,' Jackson said, touching the proper point on the map.
'How much is there?' Bretano asked.
'We just reconfigured the TOE—'
'What's that?' SecDef asked.
'Table of Organization and Equipment.' General Michael Moore was the Army's chief of staff. He'd commanded a brigade of the First Armored Division in the Persian Gulf War. 'The load-out is enough for a little better than a brigade, a full-sized heavy Army brigade, along with all the consumables-they need for a month's combat operations. Added to that, we have some units set in Saudi Arabia. The equipment is almost all new, M1A2 main battle tanks, Bradleys, MLRS. The new artillery tracks will be shipped out in three months. The Saudis,' he added, 'have been helping on the funding side. Some of the equipment is technically theirs, supposedly reserve equipment for their army, but we maintain it, and all we have to do is fly our people over to roll it out of the warehouses.'
'Who would go first, if they ask for help?'
'Depends,' Jackson answered. 'Probably the first out would be an ACR—Armored Cavalry Regiment. In a real emergency, we'd airlift the personnel from the 1 Oth ACR in the Negev Desert. That can be done in as little as a single day. For exercises, the 3rd ACR out of Texas or the 2nd out of Louisiana.'
'An ACR, Mr. Secretary, is a well-balanced brigade-sized formation. Lots of teeth, but not much tail. It can take care of itself, and people will think twice before taking it on,' Mickey Moore explained, adding, 'Before they can deploy for a lengthy stay, however, they need a combat-support battalion—supply and repair troops.'
'We still have a carrier in the Indian Ocean—she's at Diego now with the rest of the battle group to give the crews some shore leave,' Jackson went on. Which just about covered that atoll with sailors, but it was something. At least they could have a beer or two, and stretch their legs and play softball. 'We have an F-16 wing—well, most of one—in the Negev as well, as part of our commitment to Israeli security. That and the 10th Cav are pretty good. Their continuing mission is to train up the IDF, and it keeps them busy.'
'Soldiers love to train, Mr. Secretary. They'd rather do that than anything,' General Moore added.
'I need to get out and see some of this stuff,' Bretano observed. 'Soon as I get the budget thing worked out— the start of it, anyway. It sounds thin, gentlemen.'
'It is, sir,' Jackson agreed. 'Not enough to fight a war, but probably enough to deter one, if it comes to that.'
'WILL THERE BE another war in the Persian Gulf?' Tom Donner asked.
'I see no reason to expect it,' the President replied. The hard part was controlling his voice. The answer was wary, but his words had to sound positive and reassuring. It was yet another form of lying, though telling the truth might change the equation. That was the nature of 'spin,' a game so false and artificial that it became a kind of international reality. Saying what wasn't true in order to serve the truth. Churchill had said it once: in time of war, truth was so precious as to need a bodyguard of lies. But in peacetime?
'But our relations with Iran and Iraq have not been friendly for some time.'
'The past is the past, Tom. Nobody can change it, but we can learn from it. There is no good reason for animosity between America and the countries in that region. Why should we be enemies?' the President asked rhetorically.
'So will we be talking to the United Islamic Republic?' Donner asked.
'We are always willing to talk to people, especially in the interest of fostering friendly relations. The Persian Gulf is a region of great importance to the entire world. It is in everyone's interest for that region to remain peaceful and stable. There's been enough war. Iran and Iraq fought for—what? — eight years, at enormous human cost to both countries. Then all the conflicts between Israel and her neighbors. Enough is enough. Now we have a new nation being born. This new country has much work to do. Its citizens have needs, and fortunately they also have the resources to address those needs. We wish them well. If we can help them, we will. America has always been willing to extend the hand of friendship.'
There was a brief break, which probably denoted a commercial. The interview would run this evening at nine o'clock. Then Donner turned to his senior colleague, John Plumber, who took the next segment.
'So, how do you like being President?'
Ryan tilted his head and smiled. 'I keep telling myself that I wasn't elected, I was sentenced. Honestly? The hours are long, the work is hard, much harder than I ever appreciated, but I've been pretty lucky. Arnie van Damm is a genius at organization. The staff here at the White House is just outstanding. I've gotten tens of thousands of letters of support from the people outside the Beltway, and I'd like to take this opportunity to thank them, and to let them know that it really helps.'
'Mr. Ryan' — Jack supposed that his Ph.D. didn't count anymore—'what things are you going to try and change?' Plumber asked.
'John, that depends on what you mean by 'change. My foremost task is to keep the government operating. So, not 'change, but 'restore, is what I'm trying to do. We still don't really have a Congress yet—not until the House of Representatives is reestablished—and so I cannot submit a budget. I've tried to pick good people to take over the major Cabinet departments. Their job is to run those departments efficiently.'
'Your Secretary of the Treasury, George Winston, has been criticized for his rather abrupt desire to change the federal tax code,' Plumber said.
'All I can say is that I support Secretary Winston fully. The tax code is unconscionably complicated, and that is fundamentally unfair. What he wants to do will be revenue-neutral. Actually, that may be overly pessimistic. The net effect will be to enhance government revenues because of administrative savings in other areas.'
'But there has been a lot of adverse comment about the regressive nature—'
Ryan held up his hand. 'Wait a minute. John, one of the problems in this town is that the language used by people has been warped. Charging everyone the same is not regressive. That word means a backward step, charging the poor more than the rich. We will not be doing that. When you use that word in the incorrect way, you're misleading people.'
'But that's the way people have described the tax system for years.' Plumber hadn't had his grammar challenged in years.
'That doesn't make it right,' Jack pointed out. 'In any case, as I keep saying, I am not a politician, John. I only know how to talk straight. Charging everyone the same tax rate fulfills the dictionary's definition of 'fair. Come on, John, you know how the game is played. You and Tom make a lot of money—far more than I do—and eyery year your lawyer and accountant go over everything. You probably have investments that are designed to reduce your tax payments, right? How did those loopholes happen? Easy, lobbyists talked Congress into changing the law a little. Why? Because rich people paid them to do so. So what happens? The supposedly 'progressive' system is manipulated in such a way that the increased rates for the rich don't actually apply, because their lawyers and accountants tell them how to beat the system, and they do beat the system, for a fee. So, the increased rates they pay are a lie, aren't they? Politicians know all this when they pass the laws.
