"Maybe that's the problem. There is nothing to sets my sight on. There's no next goal, nothing better or bigger. Bud had the White House. I could have had the White House and now that's gone. There's nothing better than that." She had been so sure. The polls had been in her favor. It wouldn't have been a landslide, not with the division in the country, but she had the key states.
"That's really the difference. I had a plan and you had dreams. Same like the boys. Doug is like me. He might not like it, he might be fighting, but try to make him do something spur of the moment, and he tenses. Now, he's plan has gone out the window too. He would have been my Chief of Staff. Youngest this nation had ever seen, and he would have been damn good at it," she said smiling. "While TJ would have dreamed about the day my term ended so the flashes would be just a little less."
She finished her cigarette and stumped the butt on the outside wall, before tossing it out the window, violating way too many army rules, before sitting down again. "Bud is Bud. He's the least hopeless. He adapts, he charms, he finds a way to make things his. I half expect him to say that he'll be President here." Elaine looked at her mother, shaking her head. "You don't help when I want to sulk, but no I don't blame them, for leaving or for being loyal to each other. I blame us for not having be able to do a better job."