George Bush’S Great America [EN]: Chapter 375

< Episode 374 >

“Welcome to the White House. This is where you’ll be living for at least the next four years. After about three months, you won’t want to be here anymore.”

“I imagine that’s how it’ll be for me too.”

Obama resolved that if he ever sat in that chair, he would tear down that ridiculously dark desk first. It was neither stylish nor did it seem practical. Bush claimed he survived a Secret Service agent’s betrayal thanks to that desk, but Obama figured other security measures would provide sufficient protection.

“I think I know what you’re thinking, but you shouldn’t get rid of that desk. If you keep pushing the metric system like this, you’ll have more than a few friends ready to stab you in the back. Even if it never gets used, it can at least serve as a barricade.”

“Hmm, I understand.”

Obama wasn’t thrilled, but he decided to agree for now. After all, his time would come soon enough. When that time came, there would be no need for such back-and-forth. ‘Get rid of it.’ That one phrase would be enough.

“Some old-fashioned morons in the Republican Party are still harping on your skin color, but frankly, I don’t care much about your skin color. It’s a given in the melting pot of races and the land of freedom, but the fact that I’m even saying this reflects the reality, which is quite amusing.”

Bush sighed inwardly, realizing that the country he had built by grinding his bones and sacrificing his vacations was still a mess.

“Let me tell you, the handover isn’t usually done this way. I invited you to talk comfortably today, so keep that in mind.”

Bush remembered that Bill Clinton, the former president, hadn’t done the handover this way. It was more formal and respectful.

“Understood.”

“I appreciate your understanding. So, I’ll be frank. I feel sorry for you and your successors, but this position hasn’t been very fun since I took office. It’ll take at least four presidents just to clean up the mess I’ve made. Re-election might shorten that time, but roughly that’s about it. You’ve seen what I’ve done in that damn Capitol Building, but the reality is even worse. You had plenty of guys trying to screw you over when you were a senator, but now there are more than a few. Entire countries will try to screw you over. Corporations whining to loosen regulations to make a buck? Groups whining to create regulations to kill corporations? No way! Now you have to think about the Russian president and the increasingly racist EU. And there’s plenty more. Afghanistan, which we hold in our arms, and China will try to slip away at any chance they get, and some unheard-of small country might try to screw us over. And you’ll always be the one getting the blame. In the worst-case scenario, Afghanistan is fine as a simple cooperative relationship. They can’t survive in that crazy neighborhood where Russia, China, India, and Europe are all bordering each other without our help. But we can’t let go of China. That country definitely has the potential to surpass us someday. So, we have to make sure they never rise. They’ll rise again someday, but we can delay it. Well, enough with the *jabseol* [useless rambling].”

‘What do you mean *jabseol*? Didn’t he just present the very direction America should be heading?’

But Bush, as if he didn’t care, finally took a sip of the coffee he had never touched before. Caffeine immediately coursed through his body, generating energy.

“They say your perspective changes when your position changes, right? You’ll feel that to the bone soon enough. Anyway, a handover is just about saying, ‘I was roughly like this.’ It’s not really necessary. Well, there are a few things that are necessary, but you can access them in other ways.”

“I see.”

“So, here’s the main point.”

Then what the hell was he doing until now? Was it really just *jabdam* [idle chatter], as Bush himself said? It was hard to say it was just *jabdam*, as the country’s major affairs were being discussed between officials, and it was hard to say it wasn’t *jabdam*, as his attitude was so casual. As always.

“I believe you’ll act rationally, but rationality comes from people’s heads anyway. I believe my rationality and your rationality will be different, so I called you to understand those differences.”

Asking like this made it really daunting. Obama could just make something up here and it wouldn’t matter. Of course, it would be a problem if Bush later released the conversation they had here to the public, but Obama knew better than anyone that he wouldn’t.

“Spill everything you have. That’s why I scheduled this meeting informally.”

The Republican-led push for the metric system was bound to benefit Obama, a Democrat. And the American-supremacist social atmosphere was the perfect time to empower a candidate of color.

This was not a coincidence or fate, but a necessity created by the convergence of conditions. However, the creation of the conditions themselves was half accidental.

It was true that Bush pushed for the metric system to empower the Democratic Party, but the phenomenon of the public spreading the opinion that America is a ‘beacon of liberalism without racial discrimination’ and votes flocking to people of color was completely accidental.

That’s not to say that racial discrimination had disappeared. But at least the atmosphere was that blacks were no longer outsiders.

Well, this was the atmosphere since World War II, so it’s not really new, but this time it reaffirmed that the power balance between American races had formally achieved balance.

Individual discrimination may exist, but at least in the government, it would truly disappear.

“I’m thinking of touching on health insurance in the long term.”

“Good. That’s genuine. Health insurance reform, huh.”

For Obama, this was a truly subtle and strange experience. The closest feeling to it was a shameful feeling like being naked. The problem was that it wasn’t a bad feeling. Obama waited for Bush’s words, hoping he hadn’t developed a new taste.

“Let me be frank. That idea isn’t a very good one.”

“Why not?”

“Why? You’re stating the obvious. First, it’ll scratch the nerves of all kinds of people. They’ll shout about infringing on freedom. People’s nerves are already on edge because of the forced introduction of the metric system. They’ll start by attacking the fact that your plan itself is unconstitutional. Then it’ll be a mud fight. What’s the second reason? Corporations. Corporations are corporations, but at least they’ll think they’ve done their part with this metric system introduction project. Especially insurance companies, they’re probably going crazy right now? If you add anything more in this situation, they’ll resist even more fiercely than before. Don’t use me as a benchmark. You roughly know, but to do this, you need divine luck and literally burn everything you’ve built up in your life. It seems the Lord in heaven prefers this kind of thing.”

Obama himself had considered that problem, but that was a conclusion he came to after much deliberation, thinking only about that.

Judging from the fact that he gave it almost reflexively, he judged that Bush had also considered health insurance.

Since it was what that guy was saying and he had thought so himself, he would never deviate from that framework.

However, in Obama’s case, he thought it might be possible, but he hadn’t concluded that it would fail like Bush did.

Thinking that far, Obama felt drained. After all, what kind of idiot would throw himself into a project that was obviously going to fail?

“Ah, your expression is quite diverse for a current congressman. You’re mistaken, I didn’t exactly tell you not to do it.”

Then what the hell was he saying? Was he telling him to try it even though he knew it would fail? Obama’s acceptance of Bush’s failure was based on the superhuman judgment ability that George W. Bush had shown while in office.

“The number of uninsured will decrease for now, and even if it fails, it’ll be a stepping stone or fertilizer for a new health insurance. You’ll either give up or come up with a better alternative. Above all, you’ll be the boss of this White House then, not me. Well, if reporters come, I’ll express my beliefs then, but at best, that’s all I can do.”

He spoke calmly, but wasn’t that just saying to do it yourself? He truly doubted whether this was something a president of a country should say. Of course, his term was as short as a sparrow’s tear, but still, wasn’t the president supposed to take responsibility until the end?

That’s why he blurted out a word without realizing it.

“That sounds somewhat absurd.”

This was Obama’s last bit of conscience, softening the criticism or rebuke as much as possible.

“Then what do you want me to do? You’re going to push it anyway, no matter what I say. Even if you think, ‘Ah, that won’t work,’ now, I know you’ll later think, ‘Wouldn’t it work if I did it this way?’ and come up with another health insurance reform plan by twisting and modifying it in various ways, so what can I do?”

Bush said that far and sighed deeply, then continued.

“It’s all good experience anyway. You have no choice but to think that way. What can you do? Do you think my words are insulting? Don’t worry. I’m not just doing this to you. I’m a rather straightforward person. I’ve been building an impregnable fortress with power until my first term so that there’s no problem even if I act like this.”

He slowly tore it down in his second term. The final blow was the forced introduction of the metric system. The president could no longer wield America as he pleased.

That atmosphere and ideology took root deep in the hearts of all citizens living in the 51 states, not in Congress or the state governments.

Thinking about it, Bush before becoming president and Bush after becoming president were completely different people. They were different people in every sense, whether in terms of ability, personality, or physically. The only thing that was the same was his name.

“Oh, it’s almost time. Go now. Let’s meet formally next time.”

Obama had a word stuck in his chest. It was the saying that your perspective changes when your position changes.

It was so obvious, but it was even more troubling because it was so obvious. Various words tantalizingly lingered on his tongue, but he could only utter one word.

“What exactly changes when you become president?”

With a lighter expression, Bush replied.

“Well, I’ll be going in my car, and you’ll be going in Air Force One.”

Obama wanted to say that wasn’t what he meant, but he couldn’t bring himself to say it, and he was ordered to leave. But the next time he came, he would be in a position to issue the order to leave.