President Jack Ryan and the TV News Anchor (Part 2 of 2)

(Continuation. Spoiler alert still up.)

What kind of a president is this John Patrick Ryan? For the enemies of the United States, who by this time have regrouped from their humiliation as narrated in the previous novel, this new president may be skilled as a technocrat, but he was unprepared for leadership and statecraft, a weakness they shall exploit. Indeed, an America reeling from tragedy was most vulnerable, and they shall keep the superpower distracted with attack after attack, like hyenas circling the lion, while they pursue their world-changing goals. (What's a political thriller without the megalomaniac?) For Jack's personal friends, he's a straight shooter, a committed man, and, being a non-politician, someone with the willingness and capability to finally put some order in the government.

Ed Kealty had taken the political bumbling of the neophyte Ryan as a sign, an opportunity for his political redemption. In those troubled times, entrusting the presidency to an amateur was a risk the country should not take. On the other hand, he, Ed Kealty, experienced in the ways of government and beloved by media was ready and willing to take over. His only problem was that his charm was irresistible to women as they were irresistible for him.

Working on the notion that the resignation letter was never submitted, Kealty claimed that he was, in effect, never been removed as Vice-President and was therefore the rightful successor to the late President. This was political suicide, Kealty acknowledged, but in all earnestness before the camera, he would say that he was doing this for the country. At first he put the White House in the defensive, and Ryan, whose temper was a character flaw, would privately fume in the Oval Office. But the presidential Chief of Staff was a great political mentor, and Ryan's sincerity was eventually received by the public: exhortations in his speeches translated to voting trends at the emergency Congressional polls. Even the normally skeptical press had started to cut him some slack.

Kealty sensed his efforts were coming up short. As a last-ditch effort, he turned on Ryan's mysterious CIA past, hoping to play on the public distrust on the secretive spy agency as well as expose the international scandals that Ryan's actions in the Agency had concealed. With a leak from a news special, ironically more favorable to the President, that a print journalist was working on, as well as Kealty's own CIA source, the fallen Vice-President showed to a TV news tandem classified information about the anti-drug operation in Colombia and the defections (and conveniently omitted the part about stopping a nuclear war). Now to catch Ryan unawares, Tom Donner, the younger, more aggressive anchorman of the pair, suggested that they tell the Presidential staff that the tape of an earlier White House interview got damaged and request for a live one at primetime. Later on TV, Jack's eyes widened upon mention of places and names better left unsaid. He could not admit nor deny, but feebly insisted on his position not to comment on CIA intelligence activities.

The fall out was immediate. Colombia questioned the violation of their sovereignty and was worried on the impact to their anti-drug campaign. More importantly, coordination with Russia was hampered at a crucial point when the international threat was growing. Also, the defectors were outed and, thus, their lives were put in danger. Both friend and foe abroad were in agreement that the news anchors committed an act of treason, and in their countries the necessary punishment would have been meted out. But Ryan could only release his rage in private: charges could be filed, but that would only mean an implicit admission. Not that it mattered anyway. Russia for instance, had figured things out, and for them it was merely a matter of reclassifying which information was true and which was false. His enemies, though while acknowledging the revelation that could be Ryan cunning and formidable, took the non-action to the committed treason as another sign of weakness.

Perhaps it could be said that Tom Donner was indeed siding with Ed Kealty, for the latter was good to the media and they were just finding comfort in the familiar. Or perhaps he was just acting out media's role as a watchdog, naturally critical of the government, especially this new one slowly being populated by political outsiders and led by a non-politician with the absence, as of that moment, of the usual checks and balances. Indeed, the Congress and Supreme Court were killed off in the crash, and only the media remained unscathed to check on the administration: what an immense responsibility. The CIA might hide and disclose on a need-to-know basis, but for the media, the people had the right to know who their president was.

On the other hand, maybe it was primarily about the scoop, and confidential information was one hell of a scoop. Maybe it was no different with the journalist whose story they stole. Although the journalist had expressed the intention of helping Ryan, in the end, especially for the journalist's editor-in-chief, it was just one good scoop, and putting the President's past in a favorable light was just secondary.

What about public reaction? Of course, some people would fuss about the violence and the fact that Ryan had killed twice, others would admire him as a man of action, perhaps consider him a hero for a lot of reasons, but mostly because he defended his family. Some would be shocked at the interference to other countries while others would accept it as the roles of the World's Policeman. In the novel, the popular pulse wasn't really given that much attention or it was dismissed as susceptible to spin. This tells something about the government's perception, or maybe just Clancy's.

Meanwhile, the journalist wouldn't take the theft of his story sitting down. He had an idea of where the lies were and he would expose these to get even. He found help in the person of John Plumber, Tom Donner's senior and conservative partner. Plumber had misgivings of his partner's deceptions and was looking for a way out. The new pair of conspirators hatched a plan that involved the anchor's surprise farewell address at his nighttime TV news program and a top story at the journalist's paper with him as co-author.

The expose sent ripples across the media industry and disgraced Tom Donner in particular, but also his TV network as well as TV news in general, as the journalist had hoped it would accomplish, such that the public's trust would shift back to the newspapers. Back at the White House, Jack Ryan might have gloated, but again, no charges were pressed. Maybe he was just too busy dealing with the foreign attacks that had ravaged the country, which even his family was not spared. Moreover, the situations in the Indian Ocean and Taiwan Strait were getting complicated. On top of all these, a war was looming in the Middle East. The expose on Tom Donner was just a small thorn off Ryan's presidential arse.

Speaking of that war in the Middle East, it came to a point that US troops will have to be mobilized, and Tom Donner, as part of an earlier arrangement to be a war correspondent, was shipped along with the soldiers. The first though that would come to anyone's mind, was that Donner would be killed in the heat of battle, and Ryan would actually have his revenge. However, as the full extent of the conflict was revealed and the tanks Donner was embedded with rolled along virtually unopposed, the repentant reporter declared with gratitude how he was given the rare opportunity to witness history as it unfold.

All's well that ends well in the world of fiction. Perhaps this is why amidst the bad news hovering over the country in the past weeks, I immersed myself in the world of Executive Orders as a form of escape or maybe as a way to flesh out the hope that, in a better age, systems fulfill their purpose and persons rise above their differences, contribute their talents and lead all to the path to happily ever after.