2030_ The Real Story of What Happens to America - Albert Brooks [171]
“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.
But the Li campaign raised more money, had the support of the seniors, and even courted younger voters, telling them that if anyone was capable of getting China and the other foreign countries to forgive some of the massive debt, it was him. He was from there, after all. He could accomplish what no American-born president had ever been able to. He could speak to much of the world in their own language. And young people were so desperate for any kind of hope, they believed him.
* * *
When Li won the Iowa caucus, Matthew Bernstein knew he was in for the fight of his life. He begged John Van Dyke to come back and help him, but that relationship was over. Bernstein did assemble the best team he could find. They forced him to change some of his liberal views, and what he hated the most was that he wound up campaigning on scare tactics. National security issues. It was all he had.
During one speech in Nevada he actually said the words, “Do we want a president who was not born and raised in our country? The founding fathers knew this was a bad idea, that’s why they wrote it into the Constitution. Maybe we should ask ourselves what they knew that we are now trying to forget.” He came offstage and smashed his fist into a wall. “Goddamn it, they’ve reduced me to sounding like some right-wing asshole. How did that even come out of my mouth? I’m the goddamn liberal one!”
And that was the way the year went for Bernstein. He didn’t know what side to take. Finally, in the fifth national debate, which he felt he was losing, he turned to Shen Li and said, “I’m the one who invited you here. Let’s never forget that.” And Li smiled, took a long pause, and looked directly in the camera. “Mr. President, that was the best decision you have ever made. And on that, I congratulate you.”
The audience applauded for one whole minute.
CHAPTER FIFTY-SEVEN
It was a beautiful day in January 2033. A light snowfall covered Washington, and the crowds that were brought in for the inauguration were enormous. The entire world watched as Shen Li was sworn in as the forty-eighth President of the United States.
After he took the oath of office he approached the stand, which was entirely enclosed in a transparent material that was invisible to the eye but could stop a laser from three hundred yards.
Li had memorized his speech. No prompters and no papers. That alone made him look different from any president before him. He thanked the appropriate dignitaries, including Matthew Bernstein, who was sitting alone and still looked shell-shocked. He thanked his wife, the new First Lady, who looked radiant and powerful, almost as if this were a copresidency.