State of the Union
The Third and Final Fictive Essay, following
My Lunch with President-Elect Obama
The Meeting in the Annex
Ed Cowan
Having flown in from L.A. the evening before, I was picked up at my hotel in downtown D.C. and taken to the White House in a small limo, much to my surprise. I kept my cool as I was ushered into the edifice of democracy that today is far more powerful than any palace in history was in its day. A very pretty aide was beguiling me with her White House stories as I waited to be summoned when Obama, followed by two aides, surprised us both and entered our waiting room from the hall.
He welcomed me, quickly shaking my hand, and led me into the Oval office after glaring at two aides who seemed ready to follow us. When we were seated, he at his desk and me in a chair in front of it, he didn't waste time on small talk.
"Here are the issues I want to address. The State of the Union... is such a mess... as you know... that ah... Bush has left us... that we decided there would be no official address this year. As for the causes, you've pegged them just about right in our previous talks. Our big worry right now is-"
"Financial meltdown!" I said with raised eyebrows.
He nodded with a little laugh, and added, "Yeah, and as much as I'd like to take the advice of you and her," pointing to Ellen Brown's Web of Debt on his desk, "my hands are tied on some issues and this is one. There is so much to be done... ah so much I'd like to do, but resources and funds are lacking across the board. Nationalizing the Fed and the banks...ah... would be a political 8.0 earth quake, as I'm sure you are aware, Mr. Cowan."
"Yes, but it's just what we need to flatten the greed of the bankers, reclaim the government's exclusive right to create money, and give us the possibility of actually solving problems. We can't solve problems-any problems, Mr. President-until we take charge of our financial sector. So you rejected it?"
He shook his head quickly, almost vehemently. "All I've read so far--I'm halfway through it--is very good, and I'm sure she's got some good suggestions later. I wonder if I'll ever get the chance to try them."
"If you believe that, shouldn't you finish the book and consider her proposals before you write her off"
"I will finish it, but I'm just trying to be honest with you based on what I've read. It all looks simple and cut and dried from where you are, but it's not."
"So, what about the top five problems of the planet?" I asked so as to get the discussion back on my turf and on topics on which we could agree. "What do you now have in mind for our top problems?"
"You may well be very correct about all of them, but there again, I can't start talking about the top five problems of the planet when... ah, getting a handle on a financial meltdown is my main concern." He gave me a grimace of disgust before he turned to stare out the window.
I felt a sudden empathy, a deep understanding of how cleverly they had trapped this very bright, ambitious man into taking the rap for the impending financial collapse. I felt his tremendous desire to live up to his campaign claims and the hopes and dreams of his supporters, but the Establishment-the Beltway culture that always operates "off mike"--had convinced him that he had to follow the orders of the Big Boys, as all presidents have since Reagan gladly followed orders. I wasn't sure whether, having read only half of the book, he naturally didn't believe nationalizing the Fed and the banks would solve anything, or whether he understood, thanks to what I'd told him and by reading half the book, but lacked the courage to go against the Establishment. Whichever, I had to speak up.
As he was about to say something, I stood up with Ellen Brown's Web of Debt in my hand. I spoke slowly, haltingly at first, about what he was going through.
"Sir, I fully understand... the situation you find... yourself and the country in... Bush has given you... planet Earth at the start of the greatest economic and financial collapse in human history. You don't see a way out. I know that you have no reason to trust me... when I say there is a way out. So trust Lincoln. Here's what he accomplished by doing exactly what I'm suggesting you do." I read from Web:
"His government built and equipped the largest army in the world, smashed the British-financed insurrection, abolished slavery, and freed four million slaves. Along the way, the country managed to become the greatest industrial giant the world has ever seen. The steel industry was launched, a continental railroad system was established, a new era of farm machinery and cheap tools was promoted, a system of free higher education was established through the Land Grant College System, land development was encouraged by passage of a Homestead Act granting ownership privileges to settlers, major government support was provided to all branches of science, the Bureau of Mines was organized, governments in the Western territories were established, the judicial system was reorganized, labor productivity increased by 50 to 75%, and standardization and mass production were promoted worldwide." I paused and added dryly, "Not bad for one term, huh?" I returned to my chair.
The President, suppressing a grin, didn't speak for a moment, chuckled and said, "You know how to hit a guy right in the solar plexus, don't you? You know, I remember that list well and... I wish it were that simple... ah, his problems aren't mine and mine aren't..." He didn't finish as he shook his head and looked off into space. A moment or two passed, and then he looked at me as if sizing me up, figuring something out as he looked at me. This went on for twenty seconds before he broke the silence.
"You noticed, Ed, there are no minders here... in the room, no security. It's the first time I've been one-on-one with a guest in this office since I became President." I was dumbfounded and no doubt looked it. "I had to be firm with my staff to get this one."
"Excuse my ignorance, but who's in charge here?" I said a little too quickly, almost flippantly, and I softly added, "I don't understand. Surely they're not..."
"No they aren't, but I'm boxed-in in ways that are invisible to you, that you don't know about. It's a very big system, the U.S. Federal government, and I'm still not fully in charge and I know it. It takes time. That paragraph about Lincoln... it's ironical that you should bring it up because that is the ideal, what I would like to do. And though I haven't finished the book, I've read enough to know I'll go greenback. But if I were to announce tomorrow that I plan to abolish the Fed, which is what I really want to do, and nationalize all the banks... and then re-charter them with very strict charters... I'd be gone by the end of the week."
As he spoke, he was looking around the room and occasionally at me, but as he finished, he was looking right at me, eyeball-to-eyeball from eight feet away.
"Wow," escaped me almost without my knowledge. "I do appreciate what you are going through, sir, and if it is impossible now, any idea how long it will be before you can... take charge completely, do the right thing? Get organized. And as a reminder, I do think our top five problems are momentarily superseded by our financial emergency."
He just shook his head, paused, and faintly shook it again. "No predictions on anything by me right now. I have to take each day as it comes and no promises."
As he paused, I felt the urge to ask him why he bothered to invite me, but held my silence.
"What would you do about EMP," he asked suddenly.
I was surprised but prepared and responded quickly, "First, trace and check out all high-altitude rockets built for and sold to non-governmental organizations and individuals for the last several decades. Don't make it a big deal, but we need to make sure that all rockets, missiles, and their parts don't fall into the wrong hands. Eliminate large nukes first when we begin to make reductions. The only way to truly eliminate nuclear EMP is to solve the problem. Portable EMP is a very grave danger because all high-tech civilizations are extremely vulnerable to high-tech weaponry."
He nodded. "Next on the list... nuclear waste. What about Yucca mountain?"
"Sucks. Forget it; it would take at least 16 Yucca mountain repositories to house our high-level nuclear wastes, and Yucca itself is unstable. A dozen larger repositories in every fourth state will suffice if done right and if we bring nuclear energy to a close within ten years. We must eliminate all except medical."
He shook his head and laughed briefly. "You're consistent... but impossible."
"No, sir, I deal with reality and think in terms of solving each problem. You politicians, sir, deal with the myth, like Yucca holding all our high-level wastes." I grinned to soften my words.
He smiled faintly, but then shook his head dismissively. "That may be true on some issues, but I deal with very unpleasant reality all day long." He sighed.
"I'm sure that is true, Mr. President, and it won't stop being such an unpleasant reality until you get organized and lead us in doing things right, in going after each problem in a realistic way and solving it. We can do this! If we just try."
He smiled and nodded at my enthusiasm, but then spoke softly, "You want reality: I have fellow Democrats advising me to revive nuclear energy."
I grunted in contempt and then settled back in my chair, suddenly savoring the moment. Here was a man who had so many horrible problems to deal with that it was a wonder he could function, and now, I was about to lay another one on him. So I took my time and spoke slowly when I finally did speak.
"You know the dumbest thing this country ever did, Mr. President?"
He looked at me with a frown, obviously no liking the question. He shook his head impatiently.
"Building nuclear power plants. Guess what will happen to all of those nuclear power plants if we get EMPed?" I paused to allow him to answer, but he just kept starting down at his desk. I continued, "Various stages of meltdown at all of them-and Canada's too. As we developed nuclear power generation, we built a gigantic trap, the trip wire of which is a large fusion weapon fired at altitude. Just one nuke and the country is forever shutdown and uninhabitable."
"That is devastating news, but thankfully, it is also not very realistic," he responded with a smug smile. "It's unlikely terrorists could pull off such a feat... according to all of my nuclear advisors."
"True," I responded quickly, "but it is also true that a disgruntled military faction in Russia or China could pull it off, posing as terrorists if caught. Or Russia or China could just get fed up with our aggression and shut us down for good." I had pulled a sheet out of my briefcase as I spoke, and I stood up and slid it to him across the top his big desk. "Terrorists or even two or three nut cases could destroy your beloved Chicago with a couple of these devices." I sat down.
I heard him sigh at one point in the two minutes it took him to read the page and study the schematic of a very devastating, cheap, home-made, conventional weapon that can zap a nuke power plant. When he finished, he got up from his desk and went to the window. I noticed it was now snowing outside. I had no idea whether I had depressed him or I had made a positive impression and he was wondering about what to do with me. He turned partially and said over his shoulder, "You always like to have an addition problem or piece of bad news every time I meet with you, so let me throw it back in your lap this time. What do you recommend we do about that?" He nodded at the sheet on his desk.
"Recognize that all high-tech civilizations are extremely vulnerable to high-tech weaponry and work from there. There is no counter to that low-tech weapon, so we have to eliminate the real problem: nuclear power plants that threaten us. That will take years, but has to be done if we are to be safe. But a larger question, sir; are you now beginning to see how ugly the nuclear problem is? The more you learn about nuclear energy, the more you wished you didn't know. The nuclear news always gets worse; it never gets better." There was a silence. "RSVP," I added.
He was still looking out the window and was slow in answering, turning back to his desk and to me as he did so. "I'll have everything you say checked out again, but as for now, I see your point and concede it. Ah... but your message seems to be, bad news whichever way I turn. Do you realize the accumulative effect... ah, your advice is beginning to have on me? I keep meeting you, and you keep driving home how horrible it all is." He grinned. "Do you have any good news to share with me?"
He was speaking quite seriously, but had softened his words after the grin. His point pierced me because I knew it was true. I had let it all hang out from the beginning, constantly kicking the sand of reality in his face. I stared at the carpet as I tried to come up with something positive. After a moment, I came up with two points I wanted to make and that might have a positive effect on him. I sat back in my chair and spoke emphatically.
"Yes, I would make two points, Mr. President. The first is the importance of the Malcolm X quote. We are all humans first and foremost, and in that fact lies our equality, that we are all equal as humans. It is the best argument against racism and sexism."
"I couldn't agree more," he cut in quickly. I nodded and paused, but he was silent. I continued.
"But you and I haven't pondered the power of those twin swords of democracy, truth and justice. Remember: 'I'm for truth, no matter who tells it. I'm for justice, no matter who it is for or against."
He was looking at me with eyes that were mesmerizing in their directness. "Of course, I remember, but twin swords of democracy? Truth and Justice are swords... ah, for what purpose?"
"To hack away at the hypocrisies, the myths, the lies, and the tremendous evasions by national politicians and media that have grown so thick in what used to be American democracy, Mr. President. Do you want some examples?"
He was now looking at me like I was a little bit crazy. He nodded and added, "I would like to know specifically what you are talking about. Of course!"
"Okay, sir, how about this half dozen. First, of course, is treason on 9/11 that even Nation and Mother Jones won't touch, never mind anyone inside the Beltway. The obvious reason no one will come clean on 9/11: fear.
"Next... lets talk about the cousins, hemp and marijuana. Both have been used by humans for millennia. You can make almost anything out of hemp: paper, cars, clothes, houses... nutritious granola. As for dope, the Right hates it because it is a mind-opener for some people, and the Republicans would much prefer complacent slaves instead of questioning citizens. There is also the medicinal effect, and as you know, in California it is legally used and taxed as a medicine. More to the point, however; what goes in my body is my business, sir, not that of government."
Obama smiled and nodded at that comment and I continued.
"Next, the Republican-led class warfare that they have been practicing for some time. You're trying to work with Republicans; nix this strategy that allows them to pull you further to the right. Accentuate that they are reactionaries. You can see that when I ask you to name one thing that Republicans did for poor or middle-class Americans during the eight years of GWB? Aside from press their emotional buttons?" I paused; he only smiled and nodded. "Lead with the right policies, Mr. President, and the people will follow and the Republicans will wither even more in the next election. Your sudden honesty will put them in a tailspin.
"Next..." I said and paused because of the strange way he turned his head and looked at me.
"Forget consensus? Ah... that goes against the grain... of my other advice."
"You can't get consensus anyway," I replied. "You tried, but these divisions are real and wide. The country didn't elect you and a Democratic Congress because they want consensus, for crying out loud. They want real, adult leadership again!
"Also, you can help your cause by hacking away at the myth that Jesus was a reactionary Roman who loved fat cats, killing machines, and voracious capitalism. That was Pilate and the other elite Romans, right? Use 'Jesus Christ was a liberal!' to remind Republicans... of their hypocrisy in voting for warmongers and greed merchants like Bush/Cheney. JC was a bleeding heart liberal, right?"
"Maybe he was," the President replied, "but liberal is still a radioactive word inside the beltway." He had been standing behind his desk with hands in his pocket, and he came around to take a chair opposite me in front of his desk.
I continued, "We need to make 'reactionary Republican' radioactive words, reminding everyone that Barry Goldwater was the last conservative. Every Republican since Barry has been a reactionary Republican, Reagan included. And a case in point is my next example, which is an evasion.
"Mr. President, suppose you make this statement, 'People have been crossing our southern border pretty much at will since Ronald Reagan became President in 1981, and our government has looked the other way.' Then ask, 'Why?' and add, 'What is the real reason we don't enforce our immigration laws?'"
I gave him a chance to answer, but he only said, "And the answer is?"
"Because the billionaires want it that way; that's how they got to be billionaires, Mr. President. Low taxes and low wages and don't I know about the latter. I worked 17 years on the graveyard shift for $50 a night, my writing job."
He raised his eyebrows and nodded. "So what would you do about it?"
"Always, sir, go to the heart of the problem and solve it completely. It will save us all so much hassle in the long run. So, totally shutdown the border except for legitimate traffic, and we should quickly pass new immigration legislation that will return all non-citizens to their native land over a five-year period, that will pay them from $500 to $40,000 upon leaving, and that will totally shut down all immigration to the U.S. until American population is decreasing. The $500 would be for singles who have been here two years or less, and the $40,000 would go to a couple with four or more kids who have lived here 15 years or more. We allowed the people of the world to come here and steal our jobs, but it is time to send them home and expose the billionaires, who have used them"
He laughed softly, shook his head, and said, "You're consistent. Just solve the problem. I wish it were that simple... who will pick your lettuce, for example."
I laughed and answered, "The same farmer who grows his own organic veggies and sells them at the farmer's market where I shop. We need to ditch the factory farm paradigm and develop a local, organic, agricultural economy everywhere from the ground up, not top down, Mr. President. Real Americans will do the work as the aliens leave, but not for $50 a day. More like $150 a day."
"You know," he said quickly, then paused and said with an avuncular tilt to his head, "you can take this simplicity mode too far."
I shook my head. "Mr. President, none of our real problems are simple. I have only kept my solutions to succinct statements so they can be understood more easily. And how about the biggest lie of all for the sixth and final example of our fog of hypocrisy: that the Federal Reserve is our friend. We need the Fed, sir, like we all need cancer. The Fed is a cancer on our government that has bankrupted the entire world! And that, sir, brings me to my second overall point. You want some good news, Mr. President?"
I got up and reached across his desk for Brown's book. I took the book in my hands and parted it in halves. "You want good news, sir; here it is, the second half of this book. Here is how strongly I feel about this. If you abolish the Fed, nationalize all banks and re-charter them with strict charters including the need to borrow their funds from the federal government, and re-establish the government's sole power to create money... you do all of that, and you will create real prosperity like never seen before.You will go down in history as another-"
The President was putting his index finger in front of his mouth in the gesture of silence, and I stopped, puzzled. "We are doing that in degrees, Ed, but we must keep it quiet. Eighty-five percent of the interest the Fed collects off loans to the government is paid back in rebates to the Treasury. But I'm trying to keep this end run around the bankers quiet. They are now on the defensive, but to speak of nationalizing the Fed or the banks is like dropping a hornet's nest into the mix."
"Yes, I've read about the rebates to the Treasury in a recent posting by Ellen Brown. You think that can evolve into real reform?"
He replied quickly, "It will have to. Ah... to try to take charge our banking system while recovering from this hole... is... ah, out of the question right now."
He had me stymied again even though my argument was, we can't get out of our hole until we do take charge. I'm not sure he believed all he had just said, but I knew that he was no longer persuadable. There was nothing else to say. We both had been honest with each other, but the gap between us was as great as ever.
After a moment of awkwardness, he turned to me and said, "Well, Mr. Cowan, I can't thank you enough for coming and meeting with me. I thank you for the country. Don't think that you haven't made an effect on me. You have. But right now I have to do only what I can do politically at this time."
He stood up and so did I, but I wasn't at all happy. It seemed a lousy way to end it. I was trying to think of something to say to revive my argument, and he was obviously deep in thought as we strode to the door and faced each other.
"I want you to understand something," he said, looking me in the eye and speaking softly and sincerely, "I know you and millions of others are disappointed with many of my actions and choices so far."
"Yes sir," I cut in quickly.
He nodded in his patient way and said, pointing to my chest, "You have given me a goal that is now a part of my grander vision, and I can't thank you enough for your help. Remember that just like Lincoln, like FDR, like Lyndon Johnson, I can't do it all in one year. Be patient. I have to do it my way. Thanks again for coming."
He gave me a firm-grip in the handshake, and I left the Oval office and headed West: wiser, dejected, and worried about the future.
The Third and Final Fictive Essay, following
My Lunch with President-Elect Obama
The Meeting in the Annex
Ed Cowan
Having flown in from L.A. the evening before, I was picked up at my hotel in downtown D.C. and taken to the White House in a small limo, much to my surprise. I kept my cool as I was ushered into the edifice of democracy that today is far more powerful than any palace in history was in its day. A very pretty aide was beguiling me with her White House stories as I waited to be summoned when Obama, followed by two aides, surprised us both and entered our waiting room from the hall.
He welcomed me, quickly shaking my hand, and led me into the Oval office after glaring at two aides who seemed ready to follow us. When we were seated, he at his desk and me in a chair in front of it, he didn't waste time on small talk.
"Here are the issues I want to address. The State of the Union... is such a mess... as you know... that ah... Bush has left us... that we decided there would be no official address this year. As for the causes, you've pegged them just about right in our previous talks. Our big worry right now is-"
"Financial meltdown!" I said with raised eyebrows.
He nodded with a little laugh, and added, "Yeah, and as much as I'd like to take the advice of you and her," pointing to Ellen Brown's Web of Debt on his desk, "my hands are tied on some issues and this is one. There is so much to be done... ah so much I'd like to do, but resources and funds are lacking across the board. Nationalizing the Fed and the banks...ah... would be a political 8.0 earth quake, as I'm sure you are aware, Mr. Cowan."
"Yes, but it's just what we need to flatten the greed of the bankers, reclaim the government's exclusive right to create money, and give us the possibility of actually solving problems. We can't solve problems-any problems, Mr. President-until we take charge of our financial sector. So you rejected it?"
He shook his head quickly, almost vehemently. "All I've read so far--I'm halfway through it--is very good, and I'm sure she's got some good suggestions later. I wonder if I'll ever get the chance to try them."
"If you believe that, shouldn't you finish the book and consider her proposals before you write her off"
"I will finish it, but I'm just trying to be honest with you based on what I've read. It all looks simple and cut and dried from where you are, but it's not."
"So, what about the top five problems of the planet?" I asked so as to get the discussion back on my turf and on topics on which we could agree. "What do you now have in mind for our top problems?"
"You may well be very correct about all of them, but there again, I can't start talking about the top five problems of the planet when... ah, getting a handle on a financial meltdown is my main concern." He gave me a grimace of disgust before he turned to stare out the window.
I felt a sudden empathy, a deep understanding of how cleverly they had trapped this very bright, ambitious man into taking the rap for the impending financial collapse. I felt his tremendous desire to live up to his campaign claims and the hopes and dreams of his supporters, but the Establishment-the Beltway culture that always operates "off mike"--had convinced him that he had to follow the orders of the Big Boys, as all presidents have since Reagan gladly followed orders. I wasn't sure whether, having read only half of the book, he naturally didn't believe nationalizing the Fed and the banks would solve anything, or whether he understood, thanks to what I'd told him and by reading half the book, but lacked the courage to go against the Establishment. Whichever, I had to speak up.
As he was about to say something, I stood up with Ellen Brown's Web of Debt in my hand. I spoke slowly, haltingly at first, about what he was going through.
"Sir, I fully understand... the situation you find... yourself and the country in... Bush has given you... planet Earth at the start of the greatest economic and financial collapse in human history. You don't see a way out. I know that you have no reason to trust me... when I say there is a way out. So trust Lincoln. Here's what he accomplished by doing exactly what I'm suggesting you do." I read from Web:
"His government built and equipped the largest army in the world, smashed the British-financed insurrection, abolished slavery, and freed four million slaves. Along the way, the country managed to become the greatest industrial giant the world has ever seen. The steel industry was launched, a continental railroad system was established, a new era of farm machinery and cheap tools was promoted, a system of free higher education was established through the Land Grant College System, land development was encouraged by passage of a Homestead Act granting ownership privileges to settlers, major government support was provided to all branches of science, the Bureau of Mines was organized, governments in the Western territories were established, the judicial system was reorganized, labor productivity increased by 50 to 75%, and standardization and mass production were promoted worldwide." I paused and added dryly, "Not bad for one term, huh?" I returned to my chair.
The President, suppressing a grin, didn't speak for a moment, chuckled and said, "You know how to hit a guy right in the solar plexus, don't you? You know, I remember that list well and... I wish it were that simple... ah, his problems aren't mine and mine aren't..." He didn't finish as he shook his head and looked off into space. A moment or two passed, and then he looked at me as if sizing me up, figuring something out as he looked at me. This went on for twenty seconds before he broke the silence.
"You noticed, Ed, there are no minders here... in the room, no security. It's the first time I've been one-on-one with a guest in this office since I became President." I was dumbfounded and no doubt looked it. "I had to be firm with my staff to get this one."
"Excuse my ignorance, but who's in charge here?" I said a little too quickly, almost flippantly, and I softly added, "I don't understand. Surely they're not..."
"No they aren't, but I'm boxed-in in ways that are invisible to you, that you don't know about. It's a very big system, the U.S. Federal government, and I'm still not fully in charge and I know it. It takes time. That paragraph about Lincoln... it's ironical that you should bring it up because that is the ideal, what I would like to do. And though I haven't finished the book, I've read enough to know I'll go greenback. But if I were to announce tomorrow that I plan to abolish the Fed, which is what I really want to do, and nationalize all the banks... and then re-charter them with very strict charters... I'd be gone by the end of the week."
As he spoke, he was looking around the room and occasionally at me, but as he finished, he was looking right at me, eyeball-to-eyeball from eight feet away.
"Wow," escaped me almost without my knowledge. "I do appreciate what you are going through, sir, and if it is impossible now, any idea how long it will be before you can... take charge completely, do the right thing? Get organized. And as a reminder, I do think our top five problems are momentarily superseded by our financial emergency."
He just shook his head, paused, and faintly shook it again. "No predictions on anything by me right now. I have to take each day as it comes and no promises."
As he paused, I felt the urge to ask him why he bothered to invite me, but held my silence.
"What would you do about EMP," he asked suddenly.
I was surprised but prepared and responded quickly, "First, trace and check out all high-altitude rockets built for and sold to non-governmental organizations and individuals for the last several decades. Don't make it a big deal, but we need to make sure that all rockets, missiles, and their parts don't fall into the wrong hands. Eliminate large nukes first when we begin to make reductions. The only way to truly eliminate nuclear EMP is to solve the problem. Portable EMP is a very grave danger because all high-tech civilizations are extremely vulnerable to high-tech weaponry."
He nodded. "Next on the list... nuclear waste. What about Yucca mountain?"
"Sucks. Forget it; it would take at least 16 Yucca mountain repositories to house our high-level nuclear wastes, and Yucca itself is unstable. A dozen larger repositories in every fourth state will suffice if done right and if we bring nuclear energy to a close within ten years. We must eliminate all except medical."
He shook his head and laughed briefly. "You're consistent... but impossible."
"No, sir, I deal with reality and think in terms of solving each problem. You politicians, sir, deal with the myth, like Yucca holding all our high-level wastes." I grinned to soften my words.
He smiled faintly, but then shook his head dismissively. "That may be true on some issues, but I deal with very unpleasant reality all day long." He sighed.
"I'm sure that is true, Mr. President, and it won't stop being such an unpleasant reality until you get organized and lead us in doing things right, in going after each problem in a realistic way and solving it. We can do this! If we just try."
He smiled and nodded at my enthusiasm, but then spoke softly, "You want reality: I have fellow Democrats advising me to revive nuclear energy."
I grunted in contempt and then settled back in my chair, suddenly savoring the moment. Here was a man who had so many horrible problems to deal with that it was a wonder he could function, and now, I was about to lay another one on him. So I took my time and spoke slowly when I finally did speak.
"You know the dumbest thing this country ever did, Mr. President?"
He looked at me with a frown, obviously no liking the question. He shook his head impatiently.
"Building nuclear power plants. Guess what will happen to all of those nuclear power plants if we get EMPed?" I paused to allow him to answer, but he just kept starting down at his desk. I continued, "Various stages of meltdown at all of them-and Canada's too. As we developed nuclear power generation, we built a gigantic trap, the trip wire of which is a large fusion weapon fired at altitude. Just one nuke and the country is forever shutdown and uninhabitable."
"That is devastating news, but thankfully, it is also not very realistic," he responded with a smug smile. "It's unlikely terrorists could pull off such a feat... according to all of my nuclear advisors."
"True," I responded quickly, "but it is also true that a disgruntled military faction in Russia or China could pull it off, posing as terrorists if caught. Or Russia or China could just get fed up with our aggression and shut us down for good." I had pulled a sheet out of my briefcase as I spoke, and I stood up and slid it to him across the top his big desk. "Terrorists or even two or three nut cases could destroy your beloved Chicago with a couple of these devices." I sat down.
I heard him sigh at one point in the two minutes it took him to read the page and study the schematic of a very devastating, cheap, home-made, conventional weapon that can zap a nuke power plant. When he finished, he got up from his desk and went to the window. I noticed it was now snowing outside. I had no idea whether I had depressed him or I had made a positive impression and he was wondering about what to do with me. He turned partially and said over his shoulder, "You always like to have an addition problem or piece of bad news every time I meet with you, so let me throw it back in your lap this time. What do you recommend we do about that?" He nodded at the sheet on his desk.
"Recognize that all high-tech civilizations are extremely vulnerable to high-tech weaponry and work from there. There is no counter to that low-tech weapon, so we have to eliminate the real problem: nuclear power plants that threaten us. That will take years, but has to be done if we are to be safe. But a larger question, sir; are you now beginning to see how ugly the nuclear problem is? The more you learn about nuclear energy, the more you wished you didn't know. The nuclear news always gets worse; it never gets better." There was a silence. "RSVP," I added.
He was still looking out the window and was slow in answering, turning back to his desk and to me as he did so. "I'll have everything you say checked out again, but as for now, I see your point and concede it. Ah... but your message seems to be, bad news whichever way I turn. Do you realize the accumulative effect... ah, your advice is beginning to have on me? I keep meeting you, and you keep driving home how horrible it all is." He grinned. "Do you have any good news to share with me?"
He was speaking quite seriously, but had softened his words after the grin. His point pierced me because I knew it was true. I had let it all hang out from the beginning, constantly kicking the sand of reality in his face. I stared at the carpet as I tried to come up with something positive. After a moment, I came up with two points I wanted to make and that might have a positive effect on him. I sat back in my chair and spoke emphatically.
"Yes, I would make two points, Mr. President. The first is the importance of the Malcolm X quote. We are all humans first and foremost, and in that fact lies our equality, that we are all equal as humans. It is the best argument against racism and sexism."
"I couldn't agree more," he cut in quickly. I nodded and paused, but he was silent. I continued.
"But you and I haven't pondered the power of those twin swords of democracy, truth and justice. Remember: 'I'm for truth, no matter who tells it. I'm for justice, no matter who it is for or against."
He was looking at me with eyes that were mesmerizing in their directness. "Of course, I remember, but twin swords of democracy? Truth and Justice are swords... ah, for what purpose?"
"To hack away at the hypocrisies, the myths, the lies, and the tremendous evasions by national politicians and media that have grown so thick in what used to be American democracy, Mr. President. Do you want some examples?"
He was now looking at me like I was a little bit crazy. He nodded and added, "I would like to know specifically what you are talking about. Of course!"
"Okay, sir, how about this half dozen. First, of course, is treason on 9/11 that even Nation and Mother Jones won't touch, never mind anyone inside the Beltway. The obvious reason no one will come clean on 9/11: fear.
"Next... lets talk about the cousins, hemp and marijuana. Both have been used by humans for millennia. You can make almost anything out of hemp: paper, cars, clothes, houses... nutritious granola. As for dope, the Right hates it because it is a mind-opener for some people, and the Republicans would much prefer complacent slaves instead of questioning citizens. There is also the medicinal effect, and as you know, in California it is legally used and taxed as a medicine. More to the point, however; what goes in my body is my business, sir, not that of government."
Obama smiled and nodded at that comment and I continued.
"Next, the Republican-led class warfare that they have been practicing for some time. You're trying to work with Republicans; nix this strategy that allows them to pull you further to the right. Accentuate that they are reactionaries. You can see that when I ask you to name one thing that Republicans did for poor or middle-class Americans during the eight years of GWB? Aside from press their emotional buttons?" I paused; he only smiled and nodded. "Lead with the right policies, Mr. President, and the people will follow and the Republicans will wither even more in the next election. Your sudden honesty will put them in a tailspin.
"Next..." I said and paused because of the strange way he turned his head and looked at me.
"Forget consensus? Ah... that goes against the grain... of my other advice."
"You can't get consensus anyway," I replied. "You tried, but these divisions are real and wide. The country didn't elect you and a Democratic Congress because they want consensus, for crying out loud. They want real, adult leadership again!
"Also, you can help your cause by hacking away at the myth that Jesus was a reactionary Roman who loved fat cats, killing machines, and voracious capitalism. That was Pilate and the other elite Romans, right? Use 'Jesus Christ was a liberal!' to remind Republicans... of their hypocrisy in voting for warmongers and greed merchants like Bush/Cheney. JC was a bleeding heart liberal, right?"
"Maybe he was," the President replied, "but liberal is still a radioactive word inside the beltway." He had been standing behind his desk with hands in his pocket, and he came around to take a chair opposite me in front of his desk.
I continued, "We need to make 'reactionary Republican' radioactive words, reminding everyone that Barry Goldwater was the last conservative. Every Republican since Barry has been a reactionary Republican, Reagan included. And a case in point is my next example, which is an evasion.
"Mr. President, suppose you make this statement, 'People have been crossing our southern border pretty much at will since Ronald Reagan became President in 1981, and our government has looked the other way.' Then ask, 'Why?' and add, 'What is the real reason we don't enforce our immigration laws?'"
I gave him a chance to answer, but he only said, "And the answer is?"
"Because the billionaires want it that way; that's how they got to be billionaires, Mr. President. Low taxes and low wages and don't I know about the latter. I worked 17 years on the graveyard shift for $50 a night, my writing job."
He raised his eyebrows and nodded. "So what would you do about it?"
"Always, sir, go to the heart of the problem and solve it completely. It will save us all so much hassle in the long run. So, totally shutdown the border except for legitimate traffic, and we should quickly pass new immigration legislation that will return all non-citizens to their native land over a five-year period, that will pay them from $500 to $40,000 upon leaving, and that will totally shut down all immigration to the U.S. until American population is decreasing. The $500 would be for singles who have been here two years or less, and the $40,000 would go to a couple with four or more kids who have lived here 15 years or more. We allowed the people of the world to come here and steal our jobs, but it is time to send them home and expose the billionaires, who have used them"
He laughed softly, shook his head, and said, "You're consistent. Just solve the problem. I wish it were that simple... who will pick your lettuce, for example."
I laughed and answered, "The same farmer who grows his own organic veggies and sells them at the farmer's market where I shop. We need to ditch the factory farm paradigm and develop a local, organic, agricultural economy everywhere from the ground up, not top down, Mr. President. Real Americans will do the work as the aliens leave, but not for $50 a day. More like $150 a day."
"You know," he said quickly, then paused and said with an avuncular tilt to his head, "you can take this simplicity mode too far."
I shook my head. "Mr. President, none of our real problems are simple. I have only kept my solutions to succinct statements so they can be understood more easily. And how about the biggest lie of all for the sixth and final example of our fog of hypocrisy: that the Federal Reserve is our friend. We need the Fed, sir, like we all need cancer. The Fed is a cancer on our government that has bankrupted the entire world! And that, sir, brings me to my second overall point. You want some good news, Mr. President?"
I got up and reached across his desk for Brown's book. I took the book in my hands and parted it in halves. "You want good news, sir; here it is, the second half of this book. Here is how strongly I feel about this. If you abolish the Fed, nationalize all banks and re-charter them with strict charters including the need to borrow their funds from the federal government, and re-establish the government's sole power to create money... you do all of that, and you will create real prosperity like never seen before.You will go down in history as another-"
The President was putting his index finger in front of his mouth in the gesture of silence, and I stopped, puzzled. "We are doing that in degrees, Ed, but we must keep it quiet. Eighty-five percent of the interest the Fed collects off loans to the government is paid back in rebates to the Treasury. But I'm trying to keep this end run around the bankers quiet. They are now on the defensive, but to speak of nationalizing the Fed or the banks is like dropping a hornet's nest into the mix."
"Yes, I've read about the rebates to the Treasury in a recent posting by Ellen Brown. You think that can evolve into real reform?"
He replied quickly, "It will have to. Ah... to try to take charge our banking system while recovering from this hole... is... ah, out of the question right now."
He had me stymied again even though my argument was, we can't get out of our hole until we do take charge. I'm not sure he believed all he had just said, but I knew that he was no longer persuadable. There was nothing else to say. We both had been honest with each other, but the gap between us was as great as ever.
After a moment of awkwardness, he turned to me and said, "Well, Mr. Cowan, I can't thank you enough for coming and meeting with me. I thank you for the country. Don't think that you haven't made an effect on me. You have. But right now I have to do only what I can do politically at this time."
He stood up and so did I, but I wasn't at all happy. It seemed a lousy way to end it. I was trying to think of something to say to revive my argument, and he was obviously deep in thought as we strode to the door and faced each other.
"I want you to understand something," he said, looking me in the eye and speaking softly and sincerely, "I know you and millions of others are disappointed with many of my actions and choices so far."
"Yes sir," I cut in quickly.
He nodded in his patient way and said, pointing to my chest, "You have given me a goal that is now a part of my grander vision, and I can't thank you enough for your help. Remember that just like Lincoln, like FDR, like Lyndon Johnson, I can't do it all in one year. Be patient. I have to do it my way. Thanks again for coming."
He gave me a firm-grip in the handshake, and I left the Oval office and headed West: wiser, dejected, and worried about the future.
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