Today
is Super Tuesday and one of the states involved is my adopted home state of
Colorado.
And
later tonight I will be caucusing for one of our Democratic candidates.
And
that candidate is…
Our
President, Francis
J. Underwood
President
Underwood has a long career in politics. He graduated from The Citadel
Sentinel in 1980 and graduated from Harvard Law School four years later. During
this time, he met Claire Hale, a
debutant from Dallas who was attending Harvard pursuing her master’s in public
health. The two forged a long courtship and married on 3 September 1987.
With
his hometown of Gaffney as a
power base, Underwood won a seat in the South Carolina State Senate in
1984. He was comfortably re-elected in 1988. In 1990, Underwood announced that
he was challenging incumbent John
M. Spratt, Jr. in the Democratic primary election for South
Carolina’s 5th Congressional District. The political class in South
Carolina thought that Underwood was not experienced enough to make a
congressional run. Perhaps he should wait his turn until Strom Thurmond retired
or there was a more favorable political environment where he could run for
governor.
Underwood’s
campaign hit the congressional district hard stumping for every vote available.
Many political observers thought that Underwood’s primary campaign was a
novelty act at best and that there was no way he was going to unseat an
incumbent.
On
primary night, it was Underwood who had the last laugh as he claimed a 51-49
victory. Despite upsetting an incumbent in the primary, Underwood crushed token
Republican opposition in 1990. In 1994, Underwood’s district was targeted by
Newt Gingrich and the Republicans in their efforts to flip the House, but
survived re-election and was one of the few bright spots in that election for
Democrats. Representative Underwood in a debate in 1998 said he would not vote
to impeach Bill Clinton drawing many boos by the crowd. The front page of the Gaffney
Ledger noted that standing with Clinton would end his political career. Once
again, Underwood proved them wrong with a 54-44 win and keeping his seat. At a
victory party with fellow supporters, the newly re-elected congressman held up
a copy of the Gaffney Ledger with the cover claiming his political demise and
ripped it apart.
After
every election, Underwood rose through the House Democratic Leadership ranks. When
the Democrats reclaimed the House in 2006, Underwood was tapped as the new
House Majority Whip. Underwood’s tactics as whip were noticed when passing Obama’s
stimulus package, Dodd-Frank, and health care reform law.
In early
2011 with unemployment skyrocketing to 15%, President Obama shocked the country
in a nationally televised address that he would not seek re-election. The front
runner for the Democrats was former Colorado Governor Garret Walker. Despite an
incumbent Democratic president abdicating the presidency, Walker won the 2012
election comfortably in the electoral college and with 70 million popular
votes.
Underwood
proved to be a useful ally in the Walker administration with pushing through
the president’s education reform bill. Though there were criticisms from
teachers’ unions that the bill was heavy on testing and supported charter
schools, it was the only way it could pass the Republican-controlled Senate.
Congressman
Peter Russo (PA, D) was a turning point for Underwood. After Jim Matthews
resigned as Pennsylvania Governor upon becoming vice-president, Russo announced
he was running for that seat. The Russo campaign was going well until disastrous
radio interview where Russo cursed and was obviously drunk ended all hopes.
Three days later Russo was discovered in his garage with the car engine
running. Investigators ruled Russo’s death a suicide.
Vice-president
Matthews announced that he was running for his old seat in part due to politics
to keep the governorship for the Democrats. This created a vacancy for
vice-presidency.
As a
surprise, President Garret Walker tapped Underwood as his vice-president. Rachel Maddow noted that the
Underwood appointment was “not the most inspiring choice for vice-president,
a nod to Congress tapping one of their own,” and “no real wow factor.” Despite
this, it was Underwood
in his role as vice-president and president of the senate who whipped the
Senate into passing bold entitlement reform. It appeared that the
Walker-Underwood ticket was headed towards re-election in 2016.
Unfortunately,
the Walker administration was undone due to a trade war with China and illegal
campaign finances. The latter prompted the House, controlled by Democrats, to
begin Articles of Impeachment hearings. Businessman Raymond Tusk confirmed to a
House sub-committee that Walker knew everything. With facing impeachment and
likely removal from office, Garrett Walker became the second president to
re-sign the presidency. On 28 October 2014, Francis Underwood was sworn in as
the 46th President of The United States.
Underwood’s
administration has been a difficult one. The pardons of Walker and Tusk were
controversial. In an appearance on The
Colbert Report, Underwood
was put under the spotlight by truthiness expert Stephen Colbert. In the
interview Underwood revealed the name of his economic program and promised to eradicate
unemployment. To which Colbert replied, “the same way you’ve eradicated your
approval polls?”
America
Works – or AmWorks – was revealed
in a primetime address to the country to aggressively employ the 10 million
currently out of work. In that same address, President Underwood announced that
he was not running for re-election in 2016. Congress, now controlled by
Republicans, balked at passing Underwood’s economic plan despite that it
contained things that Republicans have advocated for such as tax breaks and completely
overhauling Social Security, Medicare, and other safety net programs. Some Democrats
as well balked at supporting Underwood as they saw it went against the things
the party advocated for starting with Franklin Delano Roosevelt through Lyndon
Johnson to Jimmy Carter to Bill Clinton and a lesser extent Barack Obama.
Underwood
strong-armed FEMA to declare Washington, DC a disaster area due to high
unemployment. Despite what was seen as a power grab and an unconstitutional
abuse of power, this action employed 50,000 people in the District of Columbia.
However, doing this to tackle unemployment quickly depleted FEMA funds. A
hurricane threatened the east coast and Congress passed an emergency spending
bill to replenish the FEMA coffers with the stipulation that the funds are only
to be used for natural disasters. Underwood signed the bill, but the hurricane
turned north minimizing the storm’s impact on our east coast.
President
Underwood announced that he was changing course and would campaign for
president on AmWorks’s DC success.
And
this bold move is why we need Underwood as our president.
Yes,
the appointment of his wife, Claire, as United Nations Ambassador was a foreign
policy disaster as well as his Jordan Valley joint-peacekeeping mission. There
is much to be desired in dealing with Russia and their president, Vladimir Putin
Viktor Petrov.
But
as shown throughout his career and with promoting AmWorks, America needs the
boldness and ruthless pragmatism of Francis Underwood.
The
other candidates running for the Democratic nomination are good but severely
flawed. Heather Dunbar, former solicitor general during the Underwood
administration, is seen as someone who has an axe to grind against her former
boss. The only reason why people know her name is because her family owns a
security company and she was appointed special prosecutor to investigate the
Walker administration. Dunbar
at a rally talked about income inequality, but during the Iowa Debate Representative
Jackie Sharp (CA, D) slammed Dunbar for basically being born on third base. It
is hypocritical
for Dunbar to talk about living in this economy while at the same time she
sends her own children to private school.
Representative
Sharp was effective as Underwood’s replacement as Democratic Whip, but she wasn’t
Underwood. It is confusing why she decided now would be time to run for
president. Despite being a military veteran, the California congresswoman does
not have much national recognition. It is also odd that she endorsed Heather
Dunbar during her campaign suspension speech. There were rumors that Sharp
could either be tapped as Secretary of Defense or Secretary of State in a
possible future Underwood administration or even put on the ticket as Underwood’s
vice-presidential nominee. I have heard from my California friends that Sharp
might consider running for either US Senator to replace Diane Feinstein or
Governor to replace the term-limited Jerry Brown in 2018.
The
announcement of Doug Stamper as his White House Chief of Staff will definitely
shake up the campaign. Underwood won Iowa narrowly, but adding Stamper is seen
as a kick in the pants. Stamper was the difference while Underwood was in the
House and many say was why he won in 1990, 1994, 1998, and 2010.
One
more thing, let me address the rumors surrounding President Underwood: they are
nothing more than paranoia and a well-funded right wing smear campaign to try
to divide Democrats. I enjoyed reading Zoe Barnes’s columns in the Washington Post
Herald and Slugline.
Her tragic death was a loss for journalism, and she was a rising star. She slipped and feel on the
tracks into the path of an oncoming train.
Lucas Goodwin was
a reporter with the Herald but was caught hacking into AT&T’s servers. He
is currently serving a 10-year sentence for cyber terrorism. Apparently Zoe and
he had a romantic affair, and after her death became so distraught that he
claimed that Zoe and Underwood had an affair as well as Underwood murdered Zoe
to cover up Russo’s death which Underwood was a part of.
Other
rumors include that Underwood
strangled a dog, Francis
and Claire have split up, Francis
had a same-sex lover while at The Sentinel and other gay rumors, and
the most bizarre: Frank,
Claire, and a male secret service agent engaged in a drunken threesome.
Even
the most ridiculous is the idea that Underwood was passed over as Secretary of
State in January 2013 and orchestrated a sort of a coup d'état as revenge
against Walker. If that was a television show, it
would barely last one season.
Pardon
me while I roll my eyes at these accusations.
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