The Chosen One

67

One week later

‘Ladies and gentlemen, the President of the United States!’

Maggie watched closely to see which senators and congressmen were clamouring to shake the new President’s hand and which were withholding their affection. When Baker had done a televised address to a joint session of Congress, the Democrats had all been desperate to touch him, hoping some of his stardust might fall onto their shoulders. But the Republicans had held back.

Now both sides were eager, applauding wildly, stretching to get within back-slapping distance of Bradford Williams as he waded through the thicket of people jamming the entrance to the chamber. Democrats were determined to use the occasion to shore up the new man; the Republicans, Maggie suspected, were keen to demonstrate their colour-blind comfort with an African-American as president.

It took four minutes for all four hundred and thirty-five representatives and one hundred senators, along with the nine justices of the Supreme Court as well the Joint Chiefs of Staff, in their starched uniforms, to still their applause. When they did, Williams began.

‘My fellow Americans – all I have I would have given gladly not to be standing here today. The departure of Stephen Baker was a deep blow to our nation, one that seemed to shake the foundations of our entire system. It will take us a long time to recover. It won’t be easy. In fact, it will be hard. For me as well as for you. But together I believe we can do it.’

Another round of applause. Maggie noticed that Williams’s forehead was already glistening.

‘It was a shock not only because this nation had put its trust in Stephen Baker and given him a mandate to govern just a few short months ago. It was a shock because of what we had discovered. That there had been a conspiracy to deny the American people their right to be a free and sovereign people, a conspiracy to hold to ransom the man this nation had chosen as its president. Tonight I am here to tell you and those behind that conspiracy, wherever they may be: this will not stand.’

A thunderclap of applause. Maggie sat forward.

‘Tomorrow I shall put a bill before you that will regulate those banks who have not only grown too big to fail but too big – period. I plan to curb their reckless dicing and slicing of our money. No longer will our nation’s economy be used as a casino. It’s too important for that.’

By now he was drowned out by waves of applause. But he rode right over them. ‘I plan to cap their pay, so that it reflects the real world the rest of us live in – so that those who work hard can get on, but those who lie, steal and cheat are no longer rewarded for their efforts.’

Maggie watched all but a handful of diehards applauding. The politicians knew how such a populist message would be playing with their constituents back home: they’d be fried alive if they dared to disagree with what Williams had just said.

He talked for a while about education and the environment, with a short passage on social security. He seemed to be getting into his stride. And then he turned to international affairs.

‘I cannot promise to be the same as my predecessor. We are different men. But Stephen Baker was full of great plans and some of those now fall to me. One in particular I want to mention tonight.

‘A slaughter has been underway for too long far away from here in Sudan, a terrible war against women and children and men who want only to live in peace. No, I’m not going to threaten to invade that or any other country we don’t like. Such heavy-handed interventions do not work. But nor am I going to suggest we stand by and do nothing.

‘Which is why tonight I am ordering the Department of Defense to prepare the despatch of three hundred of our best-equipped helicopters to the African Union. They will be the eyes watching over that troubled land. If the killing continues, those killers should tremble – because they will be watched.’

Maggie shook her head in delighted incredulity. She had assumed that the Darfur plan she had discussed with Baker had been buried the instant he resigned. It was a pet project of his and hers; there were no votes in it. And yet he had clearly handed their plan to his successor. Baker must have told Williams it was a priority too, or it would never have been included in an occasion as important as this one. And then she remembered Baker’s parting words to her: I hope one day to find a way to repay you.