Who: Mark and Glibt What: Mark continues to consider the job offer When: Monday morning Where: The Brownstone Warnings: None
The more he thought about it, the more Mark wanted the job. It was almost as if he hadn't realised how badly he'd wanted it until it had actually be offered to him. The Politics Fix was his baby, but his Emmy total had entered the double digits and though he had a man in the White House, his party was getting very little done. Well, very little done that was safe to brag about as campaign season rolled around. No one could talk about health care without getting smeared on televised ad the next day or at some Tea Party town hall meeting, the average American didn't understand enough about basic economics to get why repealing the Bush Tax Cuts were a good thing, and the war(s) was libel to set anyone off, Left or Right. As much fun as he had getting on television every night and poking fun at every ridiculous and nonsensical thing that went on in the Beltway, he knew it wasn't constructive. Rahm did too, apparently. How had he put it? Come do something that matters again.
It was just Chicago. It wasn't the country, but it was Chicago and it was straight politics. If there was any city to wet his feet in in the political arena again it was Chicago. There was no other city that would build back his tolerance for political bullshitting, two-facedness, and underhanded dealing faster than Chicago. Besides, the city needed a mayor who could Corey Booker the violence down on the South Side, and if there was one person who could do that it was Rahm. That would be nice, to work on a campaign for a person he actually believed could get something done.
Of course it sounded nice in theory. That was before one considered the logistics of the thing. It all started with the idea that Mark Harden would be gone for most of the time, replaced with Mark Garret-- his Cornell and Stanford Law educated alias from the Clinton Years. He had no idea how that would go over with Glibt, much less with Thomas. Malcolm and Johnny were both old enough to accept it, but Mark was still going after their opinions. It was Glibt who worried him the most. He knew his fiance would want him to do whatever made him happiest, but at what cost? There was always the option of changing forms constantly –one for the midwest, and one for everywhere else-- but Mark had never had to do that before and he didn't want to resort to it now. It was like keeping a lie straight-- it was better to just have one so the story didn't get confused. He didn't want to exhaust himself playing both Marks at once and somehow mess up the potential new job because he couldn't keep his lives in order.
He hadn't made any final decisions, but he knew where he was leaning. Rahm had given him three weeks at the most to decide, but Mark didn't think he needed that long. He'd know the answer after he let Glibt and Thomas in on things. He wanted it, but he wasn't going to take it at the expense of his future marriage or his youngest son who he'd already messed up with time and time again.
Mark picked up a dry erase marker. It had rolled out from some corner on his rat's nest of a desk, probably shoved somewhere after he'd accidentally brought it home from work. It was useful now, as he leaned over from the desk, uncapped the pen, and wrote in capital letters on one of the large study windows, 'Chicago Pros' and 'Chicago Cons'.
Pros: Rahm, Working a campaign, getting back into real politics, connecting with my people, cleaning up the South Side, Cubs games in the spring, defeating Republicans, working (hopefully) in a mayoral office post-April, no more paparazzi, personal jet makes for free travel, other potential jobs after this...
Cons: The Chicago winter, losing Mark Harden, losing the Room, losing the show, the commute, it's not a guarantee, Chicago Politics make Tony Soprano look like a toothless goldfish, probably having to deal with Blagoavich, time with Glibt, time with Thomas, time with Johnny, job's so stressful I'll never quit smoking...
Mark continued to scribble on the window, each list getting longer even as the door opened behind him.