Chapter XXIII: October 2006.
Nazi Space Spy
Banned
Chapter Twenty Three:
President Kerry and Vice President Edwards arrive to campaign in Pennsylvania.
The President surprised some in Washington when he began the month by signing an act quietly pushed through Congress which prohibited online gambling. Though the bill had broad bipartisan support in both the House and Senate, it was the smallest of olive branches. In fact, it was the only olive branch the President was willing to make as the looming midterms ratcheted up partisan tensions at all levels of the government. President Kerry tried to generate last minute momentum by portraying the Republican Party as an increasingly out of touch, corporate controlled entity that would threaten the existence of key programs like Medicare and Social Security. The Republicans countered by doubling down on their Bush era playbook, arguing that the President and his Democratic allies were weak on national security issues. They also argued that the Democrats had been restrained from implementing radical (or sometimes outright socialist) policies that they claimed would derail American prosperity and economic growth by GOP opposition in Congress, the Republicans framed the election as a referendum on the Kerry administration's domestic agenda.President Kerry and Vice President Edwards arrive to campaign in Pennsylvania.
Across the other side of the world in the lawless rump of what was once Somalia, a dramatic increase of piracy and Islamic militancy led Secretary of Defense Sam Nunn to dispatch American destroyers to escort and protect western flagged vessels. Inside Somalia, the Islamic Courts Union had gained a significant amount of ground and were threatening an offensive against the war torn capital city of Mogadishu. Alarmed by these developments, Secretaries Holbrooke and Nunn appealed to America's regional partners in Africa to stop the potential Islamist takeover of the country's already fragile government, which was hanging by a thread. Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawai agreed to intervene should Mogadishu fall into the wrong hands after a lengthy meeting with President Kerry in the Oval Office, with the understanding that American financial, military, and humanitarian aid would back them up.
While Ethiopia prepared to invade Somalia, Israel withdrew from southern Lebanon under pressure from Secretary of State Richard Holbrooke. Having declared the IDF’s actions in Lebanon a success, Prime Minister Olmert warned of further attacks should militants regroup and threaten Israel again from across the border. The operation was successful, meeting its objective by dismantling or destroying a significant amount of Hezbollah infrastructure and training camps, in spite of the premature end of the mission. Yet rockets and mortar fire from Gaza continued, with Israel retaliating in kind with air strikes. The conflict devolved into a costly and destructive stalemate as Palestinians and human rights activists continued to protest the treatment
On October 9th, seismic readers recorded a large earthquake originating in North Korea; the following day, the state television’s chief anchor announced the successful test of the DPRK's first atomic bomb. The development is immediately seized upon by conservatives, who claimed that President Kerry’s administration had sat idly by as North Korea developed and tested their first nuclear weapon. With the test completed, the state run KCTV (Korean Central Television) announced that Kim Jong Il will send representatives to the Six Party talks. It was a disturbing display of strength on the part of the Kim regime, one designed to intimidate the United States and her allies in Asia. Though the President continued to express his belief that the North were developing their nuclear program to use as a bargaining chip, privately, there was a considerable amount of concern and alarm at the State Department in Washington.
October also sees the assassination of Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya, who is found shot to death in the elevator of her Moscow apartment building. Many believe the assassination of the dissident journalist was ordered by Russia's increasingly authoritarian President Vladimir Putin, who is becoming an increasingly influential voice on the world stage despite western skepticism of his motivations and strongman style of leadership. President Putin’s spokesperson denies the Kremlin had any involvement in Polikovskaya’s assassination and warns that such rumors are the creation of a NATO propaganda campaign to undermine the public’s confidence in the Russian President. Across the globe, particularly in the Americas, there is a wave of anti-American, socialistic sentiments. In Ecuador and Nicaragua, Presidents Rafael Correa and Daniel Ortega are elected to office as part of the “Pink Tide.” Others, including Argentine President Nestor Kirchner, Bolivian President Evo Morales, Brazilian President Lula de Silva, and Cuba’s aging Fidel Castro, used the imagery of American intervention in Afghanistan and Iraq as a warning to their people about the perceived dangers of "Yankee imperialism."
Polling taken across the country during the final weeks of the midterms showed a major Republican wave in the making. Publicly, the President insisted that the voters would elect a Democratic controlled Congress, but behind the White House walls, everyone knew that he was going to be taking a bath. The Republican opposition to the ACA and DREAM Act energized a previously divided and demoralized party while delays and glitches in implementing programs through the bureaucracy turned some former Kerry fans into cynics. As the election grew closer, the President began actively campaigning and meeting voters after months of using a “Rose Garden” strategy. But the President was neither popular nor exciting enough to stem the tide, and liberal dissatisfaction with his administration was becoming a point of contention within the party at the worst possible time. With three days to go, President Kerry mixed his schedule with a series of presidential and political events. While touring an elementary school in Pennsylvania, the President found himself in a conversation with a nine year old girl. “Stay in school and study hard” he counseled her, before adding “or else you’ll get stuck in Iraq.”
American forces in Iraq protest the President's remarks.
