THE VOICE OF CHICAGO'S GAY, LESBIAN, BI, TRANS AND QUEER COMMUNITY SINCE 1985

Part 21. The Man vs. The Office

Jack Adams, the Secret Service agent charged with assassinating President George W. Bush and being held for psychiatric evaluation, is telling about how the Republicans lost the House in the 2006 midterms, and, over Thanksgiving, trying to convince his family that the president had admirable qualities.

My former wife picked up her wine glass and asked, 'What have you learned in all the years you've played dormouse in the corner of the Oval Office? Surely you've drawn some conclusions.'

Everyone looked down the table awaiting my answer. 'I'm telling you, really. It's not such an easy question.'

'But what about the men, Daddy? What about the individuals who hold the office?' Abbie asked.

'Sometimes the office changes the individual,' I said, quoting someone else.

'Yes, look at Johnson, for example,' Vera said. 'Now there was a man who became a hero in office.' Quincy and Abbie chuckled at their mother's sarcasm, though all they knew of Lyndon Johnson came from textbooks.

'Actually, I'm not so sure,' Jackson said. 'I know he made horrible mistakes regarding Vietnam, but he also changed the entire country's policies toward civil rights. Everyone tends to forget that. At least white people do. He was probably the single most influential person when it came to passing the voting rights act and forcing the country to accept, at least in legal terms, that African Americans have the same civil rights as anyone else.'

'But how can that overshadow the Vietnam War?' Quincy said.

'Jack, you want to weigh in here?' Vera said.

I took a sip of wine, stalling for time. I wasn't sure I should get into this kind of discussion, even with my family. But, in truth, I had come to some conclusions after observing the Oval Office over four decades.

'I've learned that it is possible for a person to do a good job leading the country and at the same time possess serious moral flaws in his personal life.'

'You mean like Clinton,' Vera said.

'That might be one example,' I answered. I quickly added, 'It is also possible for a person to do a bad job leading the country, or at least not a very good job, and lead an exemplary moral and spiritual life.'

'Like…?' Abbie asked.

'Well, you might classify someone like Jimmy Carter in that category. You could also say that it is possible for a leader to be a 'likeable guy' in public and a manipulative, even deceitful, person behind the scenes. Or to have personal dysfunctions that cause him to take or avoid action.'

'Can we take it that the last two examples would apply to Bush One and Bush Two respectively?' Jackson asked.

I smiled and took another sip of my wine.

Quincy said, 'Come on, the current guy is totally sold out to corporate America.'

'Actually, you might be surprised, Quince,' I said, looking down the table at my son.

'Go ahead, Mr. Adams, surprise us,' Jackson said.

'All right, for one example, the ranch in Crawford is full of environment-preserving technology. He's tapped and piped cold underground water to cool the house's limestone walls in summer without using air conditioning. They capture bathwater, treat it and re-use it. They put in lawn grass to begin with but quickly replaced it with western wild grasses that require less water and they have cisterns for catching rainwater. The ranch trucks are even run on propane.'

'I doubt that he was the one who did all that,' Abbie said. 'The ranch foreman probably did it.'

'No matter who did it, the president had to approve it,' I said.

'Give us another example, Dad. Something more personal, not so political,' Quincy said, trying to help me out.

I could only think of one at the moment, but I didn't think it would go over very well and it did have some paradoxical, if not hypocritical, overtones.

'Come on, Pop, give us an example that we might…'

'He has several gay friends,' I said. 'And staff members. Rather close friends, actually.'

They sat in silence at this announcement. I don't know why I thought it would make them think better of him. Once I had said it, even I heard the hypocrisy of it.

'Who's that, Laura's hairdresser?' Quincy said, making everyone laugh.

'OK, I guess that wasn't a very good example,' I admitted.

'No, but you certainly proved our point,' Vera said.

'What can I say? He believes that commerce is king. He thinks the best way for the country to prosper is through commerce and capitalism. It's just his political philosophy versus yours,' I said. 'It also happens to be mine.'