2030_ The Real Story of What Happens to America - Albert Brooks [170]
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