Lethal Trajectories - Michael Conley [58]
For openers, there was little love lost between Senate Majority Leader Fred Anders and Collingsworth. Anders was still seething over the bullet he took for the party in appointing Collingsworth to chair the Foreign Relations Committee, a sop to the vocal fringe elements. His boss was unpopular on both sides of the aisle and a thorn in Anders’s side. His initial reaction would be to remove Collingsworth from the chairmanship, but here again, Wellington had thought of everything.
Attempts to remove Collingsworth would be political suicide. Crane could muster grassroots support and induce wealthy contributors to bale out on anyone opposing his boss, and they all knew it. He was safe under the powerful air umbrella of Wellington Crane. All is well, Hugo thought as he settled in for a restful nap.
20
The White House
24 September 2017
After playing with the kids and giving Maggie a good-bye kiss, Clayton McCarty left for his Sunday morning meeting with President Burkmeister. The late-night heart-to-heart talk he’d had with Maggie upon her return from California had energized him.
Like him, Maggie was stunned by the news of President Burkmeister’s terminal illness and perplexed by the idea that she would soon become First Lady. As the shock wore off, they talked about the more practical aspects of the presidency: their move to the White House, where the kids would go to school, and how their lives would change. Maggie was a trooper, and he had felt comforted when she said, “We’ve been through so much together already. We’ll get through this, and you can bet there’ll be a whole lot of people out there praying for us to succeed.”
He also felt good about the ground he and Jack had covered. They developed a plan of action that Clayton could follow over the next thirty days as he prepared for the presidency, and he would now have the opportunity to bounce their ideas off President Burkmeister.
After the short drive to the White House, he was promptly escorted into the Oval Office. Burkmeister was seated behind his desk, wearing a blue pinstriped business suit, white shirt, and red silk tie. Clayton was far more comfortable in this setting than in the president’s private quarters. He wondered if the president had sensed that and switched back to the Oval Office intentionally. Whatever, it worked.
“Good morning, Clayton,” Burkmeister said in a voice almost too cheery to match the purpose of the meeting.
“Good morning, Mr. President. May I say that you look like your old self today?”
“Thank you. I must confess our meeting on Friday night, with the thunder cracking and my awful news, was a bit surreal, but with that shock out of the way we can get on with things in a normal manner. Anyway, that’s my hope.”
After pouring coffee and chatting idly about the weather, the Redskins football game, and other mundane matters, the president finally asked, “Have you had a chance to talk with anyone about our conversation on Friday night?”
“Yes I have, Mr. President. I took your advice about getting a chief of staff as a first order of business and asked my brother, Jack, if he would take the position. He told me all the reasons why he shouldn’t take the job and then agreed to take it. But I’m interested in your thoughts on the choice, Mr. President.”
Pondering the question, Burkmeister replied, “It sounds like a good move to me. Oh, you’ll take some hits for nepotism, but the most important thing is that you trust and respect your chief of staff. You’d better, because you’ll probably spend more time with him than anyone else, including your family. Besides, I know Jack, and he’s one sharp cookie.”
Clayton breathed a sigh of relief. It was his job to do, but Burkmeister’s approval was important to him.
“I had a chat with George Gleason, and he was devastated by the news,” the president said sadly. “With all due respect to you, Clayton, he said he would like to resign on