“You can’t just do single-payer. You’d torpedo one-fifth of our economy.”
“So no public option?”
“No. Thereare things the government can do to ensure health insurance companies are providing care to everyone. The cost-sharing subsidies are a big part of the equation. Of course, many of my colleagues don’t want to spend the money, but the better we subsidize the individual market, the more people will buy insurance, and then everybody wins.”
“Look at this rational debate we’re having.” Martha applauded.
Park chuckled. “The hardest part of this election has been trying to prove that I have real, conservative ideas that I can propose that aren’t the GOP mainstays of the last few years. I want the party to be what it was fifteen years ago—minus the homophobia and racism and sexism, of course—not the corrupt, donor-sponsored creature it’s become. I can’t in good conscience sign on with the Democrats,who are shifting further to the left every day. I disagree with them on almost every economic policy issue, and it’s hard straddling the middle sometimes. Still, I think rational politics in the GOP can ensure the party’s survival.”
“That’s interesting,” Jackson said. “I don’t agree, but I appreciate your frankness.”
“Park’s pretty good on TV,” Martha said. “I don’t know if you’ve seen.This race was high profile even before the, uh, most recent turn of events. A senator who has been in government for about three hundred years finally retires at the ripe old age of eighty-seven, and now we’ve got an open seat in New York. If Park wins, the GOP may just hang on to its majority in the Senate by a seat or two. If Thompson wins, they will likely lose the majority. All eyes are on NewYork, Virginia, and Tennessee this election cycle. The GOP can only afford to lose one of those races.”
“You understand that it’s hard for me, as someone who has never in my life voted Republican, to get behind all this, don’t you?” said Jackson. “I’m trying to muster up some sympathy, but I’m not exactly rooting for the GOP to hang on to its majority.” Because he did disagree with Park. Heknew Park was a good man, with good intentions. But he was dead wrong on a number of issues. Jackson had been following the campaign closely enough to know that.
“We’re allowed to disagree,” Park said.
Jackson leaned back. “You say a lot of nice things. Even while I disagree with some of your ideas, there’s some logic to them. And I believe you when you say you want to reform the party.I’m just not convinced the party can be reformed, is all.”
“That doesn’t mean I shouldn’t try.”
No, Jackson supposed it didn’t.
They all sat around the coffee table, and Jackson had wound up in the desk chair, which was an oddly shaped, ergonomic chair that was not as comfortable as it should have been. “Tell me, Martha. I want to know about the day-to-day stuff. This week has beenabnormal, obviously. So I’m curious about what hanging around the campaign is like when Park isn’t a murder suspect.”
“Busy, but pretty boring to outsiders, I’m guessing,” Martha said. “Most of my job is making sure Park makes it to his various appearances. We decided early on that the best way to win over voters was to actually get out there and talk to them. So Park has several public appearancesscheduled per week, plus I’ve been trying to get him on the Sunday shows as frequently as they’ll have him. Managing his schedule alone is a full-time job. But also we try to, you know, juggle all the balls we have in the air. We really need, like, twelve more people.”
“The attention, though. I mean, obviously you want it. The more attention the better, I get it, but...it’s not all press gauntletsand bodyguards trying to lose tails on the streets and traveling with an entourage, is it? That lack of freedom of movement must be so unnerving.”
“It can be,” said Martha. “That is, nobody knows who I am. I can just walk around forever. But traveling with Park is trying sometimes. People in public always want to argue with him on his policy positions.”
“Someone threw glitter on me once,”said Park.
“Really?”
“Yeah. I was doing an event upstate. I had given a speech, then I was out in the lobby shaking hands and signing autographs, and some guy just ran up and dumped a bucket of glitter on me. Said I deserved it because of my homophobic voting record.” Park let out a sigh that indicated he’d spent a lot of time going over that moment in his head. “He was ill-informed, Iguess, but then a part of me thought I deserved to spend the next two weeks trying to get the glitter off my clothes. I was still finding glitter in my apartment a month later.”
“Glitter really sticks around,” said Martha.
“It all just seems like a lot,” said Jackson. “How do you cope with it?”
Park shrugged. “I tell myself it’s for the greater good. I want to win the election so Ican effect change, bottom line. That means I have to be uncomfortable sometimes.”
“It really isn’t that bad most of the time,” Martha said. “It’s intense right now because it’s a high stakes campaign. After the election, the sharks will find other chum.”
Jackson turned that over. As he contemplated the fantasy universe in which he and Park maybe got back together, he found himself hesitantto jump into that world. Could he be a political spouse? That seemed so unlikely.
After dinner, Martha stated she was going to take a long bath and get ready to tackle the world the next day—or conduct polls, Jackson supposed, and whatever else it was that Martha did. So she left and closed the door, and Jackson found himself alone with Park again.
When Martha had shown up, Jackson wasglad for it, because she provided an ample distraction. It had been torture to just sit with Park on the couch during the press conference, and he’d worked hard to school his features so he didn’t betray his feelings. Jackson had spent the entire night before thinking about everything; he felt the old pull toward Park, even when he didn’t want to. He struggled with what he knew was right—for hisprinciples, his safety, his sanity—and what his heart wanted.
The truth was that he’d come to the hotel today hoping seeing Park face-to-face would help make his decision. And he knew what he had to do. He just didn’t want to do it.
And now they were alone again.
He felt like he should say something, but Park said, “There’s this corny political drama that airs on Sunday nights. Ithas that actor fromProspect Park Westyou really liked. Rey Whatever-his-name-is.”
“Oh.”
