Chapter Fourteen #2
“Sam and I have agreed to take this one step at a time. Spinning ourselves up with thoughts of what if or what might be is counterproductive. The hearings are getting started and could drag on for weeks. I refuse to spend all that time locked up in speculation. Nelson isn’t going down without a fight, and anyone who thinks he is doesn’t know him very well. ”
“There’re many within the party leadership who’d like to see him resign to save us the spectacle of possible impeachment.”
Nick’s stomach knotted at the thought of the president resigning. “Is it only talk?”
“For now, but if the hearings start to go south, it’ll be more than talk.”
“I can’t imagine any scenario that has him resigning. He’s been steadfast in his denials that he had anything to do with Christopher’s scheme.”
“That doesn’t mean it’s true.”
“Granted, but I’m going to let the hearings play out and see what happens.
Please pass along the message that no amount of pressure will change my mind about how I plan to handle this situation.
If I’m required to step up, I’ll do it when the time comes.
But I’m not interested in talking about what-if scenarios in the meantime. ”
After a long pause, Graham said, “Can I ask you something?”
“Anything you want.”
“Do you aspire to be president at some point in the future?”
And there was the one question he couldn’t avoid for much longer. “I don’t know if I do.”
Graham’s face went slack with shock. “Are you kidding me right now?”
“I would never joke about something so important.”
“But you’re the heir apparent, the presumptive nominee, the great hope of the party. You have to know that.”
“I do.”
“And you don’t want it?”
“I have no burning desire to be president, especially after having lived under the watchful eyes of the Secret Service for the last ten months. You can’t begin to know how restrictive it is to be stuck inside the gilded cage until you’re in there looking out at the rest of the world.”
“I… I don’t know what to say.”
“Don’t say anything—to anyone—for now. If Nelson manages to hang on, we won’t need to have this conversation again for another year. By then I may feel differently. But if I had to decide right now, today? There’s no way I’d run.”
“I’m truly shocked to hear this—and the party would be, too.”
“I understand the expectations, and I appreciate their faith in me, but if I’m going to put myself and my family through a lengthy campaign and all the crap that goes with it, I’d have to have the fire in the belly, and I’m not feeling the burn.”
Graham continued to stare at him before clearing his throat. “I think maybe I’ll have that drink now.”
Nick got up and went to the credenza where he kept a bottle of bourbon and a couple of glasses. He poured a drink for each of them and delivered Graham’s to him without comment about his wife’s instructions.
Graham took a sip and set the glass on the table.
“Listen to me. I know you still have some misguided idea that you’re only where you are because my son was murdered and you were tapped to take his place in the Senate.
But that’s total bullshit. You’re where you are because you’re one of the most naturally gifted politicians of this or any other generation.
People connect to you. They like you. If you want the job, it would be yours to lose, and you’re too smart to lose.
Do you know how many people would sell their souls to the devil to be in the position you’re in with sky-high approval ratings and the kind of popularity we rarely see any more in this town? ”
“I know. I get it. But that doesn’t mean I want it.”
“I don’t even know what to say to you right now.”
Nick laughed at Graham’s unusual befuddlement. “I’m sorry to shock and distress you.”
“You’ve done both those things.”
“Come on, Graham. It can’t come as a total surprise to you, knowing how much I dislike being VP and dealing with the Secret Service and everything else that comes with it.”
“You dislike the job because Nelson is so threatened by your popularity he refuses to give you any opportunities to shine.”
“It’s not that so much as the increased attention on me and my family, the confines of being surrounded by Secret Service agents and losing the freedom to do what I want when I want, not to mention everyone in the world knows who my wife is and what she does for a living—without Secret Service protection.
Under normal circumstances, we wouldn’t be having this conversation for another year or more, so it’s nothing anyone needs to worry about right now.
If Nelson is forced out, I’m prepared to step up.
That’s all you need to tell the DNC. I don’t want them all over me about the next election cycle. Not now.”
“I understand. Well, I don’t but I’ll respect your wishes.”
“I’m sorry if this is hard for you to understand, but try to see it from my point of view.
I’m doing my thing as chief of staff to a senator and then, overnight, I’m the senator, and then less than a year later I’m the vice president.
Some days I feel like I’ve been swept up in a riptide, and I don’t recognize my own life. ”
“It’s been a fast, wild ride. I’d never deny that, but it sort of feels like destiny in a way, doesn’t it?”
“I suppose, but I want to be intentional about my decisions going forward and not so caught up in the current that I don’t take a minute to breathe.”
“I hear you.”
“I hope you know how much I appreciate your support. It’s meant everything to me, from the first day we met, through everything that’s happened since. I couldn’t have done any of this without you in my corner.”
“Aw, hell, that’s not true.”
“Yes, it is, Graham. I never would’ve considered this career without your encouragement. I certainly wouldn’t be vice president without you.”
“If you want to believe that, I won’t argue with you.”
“That’s a first,” Nick said with a laugh.
Graham laughed with him, and then got up to leave. “No matter what you do or don’t do, I’ll always be proud of you.”
Nick stood to shake his hand. “That means everything to me.”