She shakes her head. “He doesn’t wantthe job. He’s ready to retire. He’s promised to stay on if I run for another term in the Senate and help me hire and train a replacement by the halfway point, but he’s got nearly thirty years of government service. He promised he’ll spend at least a year with me as my secretary, if I’m elected POTUS, but he wants nothing to do with chief of staff.
“You are a well-known figure, Kevin,” she continues.“Despite your momentary lapse in professionalism, which I suspect was due to immense personal pressures conflicting with your long-term forced march to the network’s tune, I believe you are the best man for the job. I don’t want a politician or a known operative for this role—I want someone politically adjacent, who has a balanced perspective.”
“I will not try to wrangle my father for you.” Myfather fancies himself as more powerful than he really is, and frequently makes a very vocal nuisance of himself as a result.
“Not that I think anyonecoulddo that,” she counters. “And besides that, fuck him. No offense? He’s an asshole. I don’tneedhim or his support. And he’s in the House, anyway. He’s their problem.”
I have to smile. “You sound like you don’t like him.”
“Nobodylikes him,except the idiots who keep voting him into office. As you yourself likely well know, the saying goes that most of them have never met him in person, or they’d change their minds about voting for him. I’ve got a couple of aides working on a ratfuck there. Some sketchy campaign finance shit going on that I think he’s part of.”
If nothing else, hearingthathas made her intrusion today worth it. “Wow. Promise I can be on the front row to seethatreveal, please?”
“If anything comes of it, sure.” She leans forward and levels a steady gaze my way. “Don’t you think it’s time you live up to your full potential, both personally and professionally?”
Heat rises in my cheeks because I speak subtext quiet fluently, thank you very much.
She knows about me and Christopher.
I don’t know howmuchshe knows, but he’s told her at least a little.
“Not sure what you mean,” I mutter.
“Tsk. You knowexactlywhat I mean, Kevin.” She glances Christopher’s way before focusing on me again. “May I use your bathroom?”
The abrupt change of course is actually welcomed, because I need a moment to process this. “Of course.” I point to the doorway. “Second door on the left.”
I barely remember my mannersto stand as she stands. She gives me a smile. “I’ll be right back.” With a long, apparently meaningful glance Christopher’s way, she walks out.
I feel like I can’t catch my breath and I have to slump back into my chair.
I sit there, my mind spinning and trying to absorb what the senator said, the offer she’s made me.
The potential.
Despite my protests I’m not qualified, as I realize she meansthis, I can’t help wonder whatcouldbe.
What I could do if I had that kind of power and visibility. Sure, worst fucking job in government, according to most former White House chiefs of staff, butstill.
In my brain, my father’s voice screams at me to tell her to go fuck herself. That’s almost enough reason for me to say yes without thinking about it.
Except…
Ineedto think about this.
Reallythink about it.
When I look up, Christopher’s still standing there, but now he has his phone out and is thumbing through it.
“Is sheserious?” I whisper.
I’m trying to think of a gracious way to saynoto her offer. I really don’t feel I’m qualified to be the White House chief of staff, and I’m not sure I want to be press secretary. If she even gets elected. She’ll have to survive a brutalprimary season and a contentious Democratic National Convention to make it to the general election. That grind has chewed up and spat out hundreds of politicians with far more political savvy and experience and higher poll rankings than she has.
I’ve always respected Senator Samuels, despite our frequent disagreements over foreign policy. She’s a woman of principles, but she’s not afraid of takinga stand to do the right thing, even if it flies in the face of what the loudest and most liberal in her party want her to do. She is a throwback to true bipartisanship that’s rarely seen in the halls of government these days. She’s not a weasel, either. She doesn’t straddle that line in hopes of getting along and sacrificing her principles in the process—she is a true moderate in every senseof the word.
Add to that the woman’s a frigging genius. Literally. Not to mention she’s sharp when it comes to policy, history, and economics. Also, she’s a lawyer, andknowsfederal laws and treaties. She’s always the most prepared person in the room, whether it’s a Senate committee hearing, or an interview with someone like me. I’ve never seen her caught flat-footed.
She’s definitely got thebrass balls to be POTUS. I’d absolutely trust her with the nuclear codes, even if I’d disagree with her on about fifty percent of her agenda. She’s cool under pressure, a strong negotiator, and she limits herself on Twitter to strictly professional comments recognizing holidays, tragedies, national successes, things like that.
