[War] US: About your new President

[pentaj2 at Scranton.edu]

"About your new President"
13 August 2006
President John Williams
United States
----
<The Residence: 1400 EDT>

POTUS was, this day, in his fairly makeshift private office in the 
Residence; It was taking him a while to move in, and while the place 
was presentable, it was still not particularly done. He was in khakis, 
polo, and loafers, respectable but casual.

Sipping his coffee, he was tapping at his laptop, finishing up some 
paperwork as there was a knock on the door.

"Mr. President, they're here," announced Jarrett Walker, his personal 
aide.

"Right. Jarrett, get yourself and our visitors some coffee, or 
whatever they'd like," he replied as he stood and strode towards the 
door.

"Yes sir," Jarrett replied and made his exit, as Anderson Cooper and 
his team strode in; The White House press office had already set up 
the cameras, so Williams just strode over. "Welcome to the White 
House, ladies and gentlemen," he greeted as he shook hands with 
everyone.

"Thank you for giving us the chance to do this, Mr. President," Cooper 
replied.

"Hey, the people of this country - this planet, really - need to get 
to know me. You seem the most able to help them do that," Williams 
replied, smiling.

"Now, how were you thinking of doing this?" Williams asked, 
then. "I've got a basic clue about TV production, so feel free to get 
jargony."

"Oh? Where from?" Cooper asked in return.

"Took a few TV production courses in college. Journalism was one of my 
minors," Williams replied.

"Oh. Now, what we're thinking of is some basic shots, filler footage 
first. We already have shots of you in the Oval Office, so, some shots 
of you with your dogs, things like that," Cooper noted.

"Alright. Grab a camera, I'll see which one of the dogs wants to 
play," Williams replied with a grin.

At that point, he moseyed out of the office, the newsies following. 
Among the things they passed was a door marked "doggie toilet", with a 
dog door inside the door.

That brought stops and stares. "Doggie toilet?" Anderson Cooper 
finally asked.

Which brought a chuckle from the POTUS. "Yup," he replied, opening the 
door. "Some of our first days were slow, so I got bored and entirely 
too creative. So I worked with their vet, some tradesmen, and the 
White House Staff to design and build a doggie toilet. For no real 
reason than, well, why not? You see the prototype. Flushes as the dog 
leaves. And the shower head," he pointed up at a small one in the 
ceiling, "cleans it after he leaves."

A grin. "Wow, you must have been bored," Cooper noted.

"Yes, yes I was. And the best part? Partswise, it cost no more than 
$300. We already have a patent going through the filing process. If it 
gets commercialized, the profits will go to The Seeing Eye - where I 
got Akela from - and a few animal shelters in DC and in Jersey."

"Wow. Why were things so slow?"

"For one thing, I had a ludicrously clear calendar that first week, 
and since I don't do a lot of the usual PR events, I have time on my 
hands even these days," Williams replied as they walked on.

"So what do you do with all the freed up time?"

"Get a bit deeper into the issues, keep up my technical skills, plan. 
I figure, it's good if every so often, a President comes along who can 
actually grapple with the issues that come up, without help from the 
staff apparatus."

At that point, a little wheaten terrier puppy meandered by. Williams 
grinned.

"Hey, Gizmo! C'mere boy, c'mere."

The dog looked up and walked next to his human, walking next to him as 
they walked on.

Then, as headed out to the North Lawn, Williams was handed a tennis 
ball and a basket of doggy treats.

"Anderson, hold the doggy treats for me?" he asked, as he began 
throwing tennis balls, and the dog ran to fetch it.

That continued for a while, Gizmo exhibiting the full spectrum of 
canine athleticism, with Williams occasionally taking a treat and 
throwing that instead (Gizmo loved to do mid-air catches on those).

Then, finally, Williams walked over and pet the dog, as the camera 
drank in the images.

"Such a great dog."

"How old is he?" Cooper asked.

"Only 4 months old. We finished housebreaking him just before 
everything happened. Thank God."

A grinning nod from Cooper at that.

Soon enough they were back inside, Gizmo walking next to Williams and 
Cooper as they headed to the Roosevelt Room.

"Off the record, we're *pondering* basically completely renovating the 
Residence. We might just turn the Press Briefing Room renovation into 
a complete renovation of the West Wing, too," Williams commented as 
the two sat in comfortable chairs, endtables with water next to each, 
as the cameras and the like were set up.

"Why's that?" Cooper asked conversationally.

"Well, with the Residence...Ehh, it simply feels like it's a great 
place to show off, not a great place to live; It needs to be made more 
livable, more future-proof, too. Also, me and Kayleigh are younger 
than most recent occupants. Very much off-the-record, we'd *like* to 
have kids. So there's also a pragmatic need to get the Residence ready 
for kids and, well, kid-proofed."

"It's not?"

"You've seen the carpets in there?"

A nod from Cooper.

"Think about juice being spilled on em. Or babies spitting up in the 
general vicinity. No, not a pleasant thought."

"OK. And the West Wing?"

"We have the opportunity, so why not? Same thought process, really. It 
needs to be future-proofed, it needs to be redone to fit the actual 
patterns of activity, it needs to be upgraded. Things like expanding 
and upgrading the Situation Room, things like that. It's coming up on 
60 years since the White House was reconstructed, so, really? It's 
probably due for it."

A nod. "Fair point."

At that point, the makeup people began swarming. After that, the two 
looked at each other, and at the mirrors.

"I forgot how much TV makeup makes you look...clownish in person," 
Williams mused.

"You'd look worse on TV without it," the White House makeup person 
noted.

"Good point, Maggie."

Then, the countdown began.

As the red lights came on, and the cameras began rolling, Cooper began 
his intro.

After the usual pleasantries, the interview began.

"So, Mr. President, how are you adjusting to your new job?" Cooper 
asked. A softball, but Williams doubted they'd stay soft.

"I'm adjusting, Anderson. Slowly, but surely. When I sat down that 
first night, I was wondering why I had to shoulder this burden; But 
after a few seconds of that self-indulgent whimpering, you realize 
simply that the job is yours, like it or not, and you have to find 
your way through."

"You've been very...quiet since assuming the Presidency. Some would 
almost say reclusive. Why?"

"Well, some of that is preference. I'm coming at this younger than any 
President, ever, succeeding after tragedy. I do not have the mandate, 
as I see it, to make massive changes, though I do intend to make 
changes where I can. Instead, if I contribute anything, I hope that I 
leave in 30 months having at least steered the ship of state 
competently; That I've sat down and been the first President in a 
while to have really thought, deeply, almost philosophically, about 
the issues the country faces, and maybe having started debates the 
country needs, or steering towards a general consensus on other 
issues." Williams replied with a smile.

"Some of that is just the situation. I need to get myself up to speed 
in weeks where a new President has months; I simply can't spend the 
time doing the work of this job, and that, and a lot of the PR duties 
expected of the Presidency. Something had to give. I'm not a recluse, 
though I don't think the President, or the White House, needs to hog 
the cameras as has been the case since World War II."

Cooper pressed on, looking happy with that answer. "Lebanon. What is 
the administration's position?"

"In my eyes, Hezbollah started this. Hezbollah bears the guilt. I've 
said to the Government of Israel that I expect them to continually 
bear in mind the requirements of Just War to minimize civilian 
casaulties, that I expect them to be extremely careful in their 
targeting and operational activities, and that I expect this campaign 
to be limited and conducted expeditiously. Are there criticisms to be 
made of their performance? Of course. But the Israeli government is 
the one 'in the arena', and I don't believe it to be helpful for me to 
pick apart their choices in public. More than that, I believe the IDF 
to be professionals, and professional military officers always work to 
better achieve their objectives with the lowest cost to their own 
forces *and* noncombatants. There are lessons to be learned, yes. I 
expect the IDF will learn those lessons, improve based upon them, and 
be better for it. That is what it means to be professionals.

"At the same time, I sympathize with the Lebanese government and the 
Lebanese people. They, unfortunately, are being caught in the 
crossfire. When the situation allows, this government will do what it 
can to help in delivering aid and assisting in reconstruction."

"You've mentioned the issue of civilian casaulties. Many, in the US, 
in Europe, and in the Arab world, have criticized Israel for excessive 
civilian casaulties. You've been a military officer. What are your 
thoughts?"

"Anderson...War, as Clauswitz noted, is friction. It never works 
perfectly. Ordnance gets blown off-target by the wind, intelligence 
can be faulty. Zero civilian casaulties is unrealistic. But while I do 
have my criticisms, overall, the IDF has conducted a 
remarkably 'clean' campaign in terms of civilian casaulties. Would I 
do things the way they have? Probably not, no. But I believe that the 
IDF is doing a remarkable job in difficult conditions. I expect that 
they will learn from this campaign and do better the next time," 
Williams stated firmly.

"And what about Ethiopia's movement of troops into Somalia?"

"I've made my thoughts clear to the Ethiopian government through 
diplomatic channels. I don't believe speaking about it here would be 
helpful, Anderson."

"And now, Mr. President, we come to the elephant in the room. Iraq. In 
Congress, you voted for the war, though you've had criticisms of the 
way the Defense Department has conducted operations in Iraq and 
Afghanistan. How do you feel now that you've moved down Pennsylvania 
Avenue?"

Williams looked thoughtful, then responded. "Not too differently. I 
still believe that the *idea* of the war, though it was found to be 
mistaken, had validity as a theory. If I redid it, knowing only what I 
knew then, I would make the same choice. But I also believe that there 
are changes to be made and lessons to be learned. I plan to work with 
our allies and the Iraqi government to change our approach somewhat. 
Precisely what has to change and how is an issue we're still looking 
at; though we have come to some conclusions, I'm not going to detail 
them until we've examined the whole package."

"Will you be asking for Secretary Rumsfeld's resignation?"

Williams just grinned there, like a Cheshire Cat that just caught a 
canary. "Nice try, Anderson. But, I'm still evaluating the various 
cabinet secretaries from up close. I'm not going to make any decisions 
in regards to personnel until after I've had the chance to give each 
person time for me to see how they work."

Cooper just grinned. It had, apparently, been a good dodge, answering 
the question while revealing nothing. But he pressed on.

"How do you intend to be a different President from President Bush?"

That had Williams looking very thoughtful. "More informal, definitely. 
There's an issue of the dignity of the office, but too much formality 
can inhibit the openness and frankness a President needs. I also work 
a lot longer hours; my wife has been trying to get me to restore 
something of a work-life balance, which I'm *trying* to do. Which is 
another reason I'm not doing a lot of the ceremonial things normally 
associated with the Presidency, really. Finally, I'm more detail-
oriented. Yes, I delegate to the cabinet secretaries, but I also pay 
close attention to how things are done, and I intend to jump past the 
chains of command if I see a need."

"Meaning...?"

"If, say, I'm curious as to how a combatant commander views a war 
plan, they can expect a call from me, asking for their opinion, 
regardless of how anybody else views it. If I think budget numbers 
presented to me are off somehow, I'll grab younger staffers and do the 
math myself."

"And a lighter question. Should we be expecting a baby in the White 
House while you're President?"

That brought a chuckle. "We'll see what fate brings."

And so the interview continued, the questions focused on giving the 
world an introduction to the new President. Or at least as much of one 
as 2 hours of TV allowed.
---
Actions:
1. Sit down for an interview. Hi, world. This is the new POTUS.
2. White House owns the tapes. CNN translates into every possible 
language, translations checked by State Department, then distributes 
globally on radio, TV, and the Web.