Wise Men at Their End

So far the rising of the new generation has been dealt with almost exclusively, with anecdotes of the previous generation being recounted as they interweave with the story. But the parallel process can't be neglected. Although we're surrounded every day with the evidence of the latest group of rising stars, every day old stars are taking their leave from public life. As the new generation steps up, the old is retiring. But I don't care for that 'turn of the phrase', as a speechwriter would say. It makes it seem to me as though the old generation is just shuffling off to quiet oblivion.

I can assure you that is not the case. Never has the old generation been content to merely step aside and let the new do what they will. We are not talking of men and women who simply put in their time at a nine-to-five job to earn enough to retire. Not at all. Instead these are men and women who have devoted the better part of their lives not to a profession or career, but rather to a cause. These are men and women who have sweated blood and shed tears in the course of their work. They will not step quietly aside.

Yet we cannot deny that there has been a changing of the guard. Ninety-six percent of this sitting of Congress was born after Nixon's presidency, and, amazingly enough, that statistic includes both the House and the Senate. The oldest sitting member is eighty and there are six freshman Congressmen and women that are under twenty-six. It is one of the youngest Congresses that this country has had, but it is only one in a long series of young Congresses.

But there is still much to be learned from the last generation and both generations realize that. While our elected representatives are growing younger, our civil service is growing older. This is not because youth are uninterested, but rather because the older members are staying and working longer than before. They are sharing their wisdom with those who will follow.


CJ reclined on the couch, dozing lightly in front of a soap opera as she waited for Toby to get home. He had been out on yet another one of his ever-more frequent 'business' trips; he was still denying that he was headhunting, even though he'd given up pretending he was conducting any actual business long ago. When anyone dared to question him what he was doing, he'd just grumble something about having to wait until other people had started declaring their intentions.

But at the moment, CJ wasn't dwelling on any of those things. Instead, she was sleeping quite peacefully. Until the phone rang, jolting her awake, she was, for once, simply waiting for her husband to get home from a trip. It was a domestic scene that didn't play out very often in the Cregg-Ziegler household.

Even after the sound of the ringing phone had roused her from her dreams, it took her a minute to remember where she'd last seen the cordless. "CJ Cregg," she said briskly by way of a greeting when she'd finally located the handset.

"CJ." It was Toby and there was something strange about his voice. "Where are you right now?" he asked.

"In the living room," she told him, muting the television so she could concentrate on what he was saying. There was a lot of background noise and static. "Why?"

"Turn on CNN," he directed. "Josh just called and said that Lazlow's having a press conference. I can't find I TV in the damn terminal that's sowing it!" So it was annoyance mixed with an odd sort of elation that made his voice sound so different.

CJ's hand was instantly on the remote, changing the channel and turning up the volume. David Lazlow was an ancient Delaware senator who'd been soundly defeated in the last presidential primaries, not quite four years ago. To anyone who made it their business to know everything about the rapidly approaching primaries, it was common knowledge that he was going to be defeated again in this set.

CJ was just in time to catch the tail end of the broadcast. "With Senator Lazlow's announcement of the formation of a presidential exploratory committee, the race for the Democratic presidential nomination has officially begun," the man recapped. "The Iowa caucuses just months away, and similar announcements are expected from many of the potential candidates within the coming weeks. This is Wayne Ortega, reporting from the nation's capital."

She muted the sound again as CNN switched back to the studio. "He just fired the starting gun," CJ reported to Toby with a laugh. "Maybe now you'll stop pretending that you're going on business trips," she teased.

"They're calling final boarding for my flight," was his only reply.

Seeing as he wasn't being forthcoming with any information, CJ found she was forced to ask. "So, when can we expect Alex to hold a press conference like this? The filing deadlines are coming up pretty quickly."

"We're not having one," he responded, sounding rather too pleased with himself.

"You're not having one?" CJ demanded. "How are you planning to launch a campaign without a press conference."

"We'll have a press conference," Toby reported. "Just not one like this. We're not forming an exploratory."

"You're not forming an exploratory committee?" CJ questioned in surprise. Sure, people had done it, but not in the past twenty years.

"We don't need to explore whether or not we're going to run," he told her.


"We're running."
"Are you sure you're not rushing into this?" Donna inquired seriously. "I can't remember the last time someone declared without forming an exploratory committee first."

"Santos and Rafferty," Josh informed her. "They were the last two."

"That was almost thirty years ago!" Donna declared.

Josh just shrugged, his ear-to-ear grin still plastered on his face. "What's the sense of wasting the time and money exploring if we're going to run? Those committees don't really do anything anyway. And under the new rules, there's not as much time to play around with stuff like that."

"They're a way for people to see if they've got the support base for a national campaign," Donna reminded him. She sighed, wishing that she had a better idea what he and Toby had planned. There was no telling what other ideas the two of them had come up with.

"We've got support," Josh declared confidently, giving no sign of the source of his assurance. Although Josh was always over-confident, he usually wasn't this cocky unless he had something to back his confidence up.

Donna waited patiently for him to explain himself. She knew that he wouldn't be able to keep this to himself for long. She was right.

"Joey agreed to use one of her contacts to set up a poll for us, one more for old time's sake," he told her. "Well, it was actually two polls conducted with similar sample bases. One was about policies. The other was about women's things."

"Women's things?" Donna retreated sharply, raising her eyebrows at him disapprovingly.

Josh tried to backpedal. "You know, finding out how people feel about women in higher levels of government."

"Have we reverted back to the eighteen-hundreds?" Donna interjected. "You had to ask that?"

"The majority of people we surveyed had absolutely no problem electing women to important government positions," Josh assured her quickly. He doubted it would do anything to placate her.

"The majority?"

Josh gulped a little, unwilling to reveal the number. "Well, with an error margin of a percentage point or two, sixty-two percent of respondents…"

"Sixty-two?" she interrupted. "The other thirty-eight percent of the people you surveyed would have had a problem electing a woman to an influential government position?"

"It's not so much that they'd have a problem doing it," he clarified reluctantly. "Most of them said that they'd just have to think twice before they'd do it."

"This isn't the turn of the last century, Josh," Donna pointed out angrily. "You'd think that we woud have made enough advances as a society that this kind of discrimination would be obsolete. We've been a country since 1776 and the only group of people elected president have been white males. Less than twenty percent of higher government officials are female. About the same percentage are visible minorities."

"Those numbers have gone up over the last fifty years," Josh stated eagerly.

"They've improved for minorities," Donna amended. "They're worse for women. There were more women involved in government back when Jed was president."

"We're trying to change that."

"That's the thing," Donna said. "It shouldn't have to be changed. Fifty percent of the population is female. Eighteen percent of the elected officials are women. No more than two-dozen women, including me, have ever sat as senators. Right now, there are only three female governors. We haven't made any progress over the past thirty years."

Josh stammered a little, trying to figure out exactly how he was supposed to react to something like that. "Um…" It was a promising beginning, he thought.

"Go and run this campaign, Josh," Donna directed him. "I've got a phone call that I need to make." She dug her address book out of her desk and started flipping through it, looking for a phone number that she rarely used. She didn't even look up to watch Josh leave.

The aide on the receiving end of the phone call answered swiftly. "You've reached the governor's office. May I help you?" the girl asked, her Southern drawl immediately apparent.

Usually she had aides place calls like this, but this wasn't official business and Donna wanted to do this herself. But she wasn't above using her position to get prompt service. "Yes, I'm calling from the office of the Senate Majority Leader. I was wondering if the governor had a few free minutes to speak with Senator Lyman."

There was a brief pause while the girl checked. "The governor is free whenever Senator Lyman would like to speak with her."

"Could you put the call through, please?" Donna asked. The girl complied quickly.

After only a few bars of tinny music, Donna was put through. "This is the governor," a familiar voice said. "How can I help you, senator?"

"Ainsley," Donna started.

"Donna, it's so nice to talk with you again," Ainsley drawled. "There's nothing wrong, is there?" The two women had stayed in touch, exchanging semi-regular phone calls, but they weren't as close as they had been. It would only be natural that her first thought was of disaster, especially with such an unexpected phone call.

"No," Donna reassured her. "But do you remember how we always used to talk about getting a woman in the White House?"

Ainsley laughed. "Of course, I do. All we've been waiting for is to have the right one, in the right place, at the right time."

"Well, it's happened," Donna informed her. "And we're going to need your help to get her there."

Ainsley laughed. "She would have to be a Democrat, wouldn't she?"