Forging America: My Campaign Manager is Roosevelt-Chapter 111 - 77: More Than Just Eloquence

The studio lights were on at full blast.

At this level of brightness, every pore on a face, every crease in a suit, would be captured by the cameras and magnified onto the television screens of thousands of homes.

The host, seated behind a desk between the two men, finished reading the opening remarks to the camera.

"And now, the debate begins."

Leo and Carter Wright stood at their respective podiums.

Separated by a few meters, they gave each other a polite nod.

Carter Wright stood with his hands resting naturally on the edges of his podium.

His posture was very relaxed, his shoulders low, his center of gravity shifted back.

It was the kind of casual ease unique to those long accustomed to holding power.

He looked at Leo with the patronizing tolerance of an elder looking at a junior. Behind that tolerance lay a deep-seated arrogance and confidence.

He believed he didn’t need any fancy tricks. All he had to do was project the image of a "Mayor," and the upstart across from him would be shamed into submission.

The topic for the first round was the one foremost on every Pittsburgh citizen’s mind: the economy and employment.

This was Carter Wright’s home turf.

The host gave the floor to the incumbent Mayor.

Carter Wright smiled at the camera.

"On this issue, the data speaks for itself."

Carter Wright’s voice was steady and magnetic.

"Over the past eight years, Pittsburgh has successfully transitioned from a declining industrial city into the tech hub of Pennsylvania."

He began to list the figures.

"We’ve brought in Google, Uber, and dozens of autonomous driving technology companies."

"We established a brand-new business incubation center in the East End, creating over five thousand high-tech jobs."

"The commercial real estate vacancy rate downtown has dropped by fifteen percent, and our tax revenue has grown for three consecutive years."

Every number he cited had been carefully selected and polished.

Then, he turned his head, his gaze falling upon Leo.

The attack began.

"Governing a city isn’t like performing street magic, Mr. Wallace."

"It requires patience, foresight, and the creation of a long-term, stable business environment for corporations."

"I’ve looked at your ’Pittsburgh Revitalization Plan’."

Carter Wright shook his head, a look of regret on his face.

"The intention is good, and it’s full of passion. But the kind of artificial employment that relies entirely on federal grants from Washington and is sustained by raising corporate taxes is an unsustainable bubble."

"You want to put workers to work repairing roads and painting walls. That’s fine."

"But what happens when the roads are repaired? When the walls are painted? When the money runs out?"

"They’ll be unemployed all over again."

"I am building a self-sustaining circulatory system for Pittsburgh, enabling it to create its own lifeblood. You are simply giving the city a blood transfusion—and your blood bank will eventually run dry."

It was a powerful attack.

It struck at the most vulnerable point of Leo’s plan: sustainability.

Carter Wright cast himself as a rational builder of the economy, while painting Leo as a spendthrift who only knew how to throw money around for applause.

A low murmur went through the studio audience.

Many people were nodding.

The camera cut to Leo.

Backstage, Karen nervously clenched her fists.

Leo looked at Carter Wright, then turned to the camera with a faint smile.

"Mr. Mayor is right. Creating our own lifeblood is indeed important."

Leo began to speak, his pace unhurried, his enunciation clear.

"No one would deny the value of Google and Uber, and no one would turn away high-tech companies."

"But the question is, where is all this lifeblood you’ve created actually flowing?"

Leo extended a hand, gesturing toward the window.

"It’s flowing into those glass-walled skyscrapers downtown, into the bank accounts of senior engineers earning hundreds of thousands of US dollars a year, into the financial statements of tax-exempt multinational corporations."

"But it has never flowed into the veins of the steelworkers in the South District."

"To an unemployed welder who has lived in the South District for thirty years, Uber’s self-driving cars have brought him no benefit, other than nearly hitting him on the street. He still can’t afford his medicine, and he still can’t pay his rent." 𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

Leo’s voice rose slightly.

"As for your ’artificial employment’ and ’bubble’?"

Leo let out a laugh.

"If repairing the potholed roads beneath our feet is a bubble..."

"If renovating the schools that leave our children to freeze in the winter is a bubble..."

"If allowing a father to support his family with the work of his own two hands is a bubble..."

"Then I suppose Franklin Roosevelt must be the biggest bubble-blower in human history."

He brought up Roosevelt directly.

"The New Deal saved the United States precisely through the kind of ’artificial employment’ you just described."

"Mr. Mayor, if caring about people’s livelihoods, if wanting every ordinary person to get a piece of the pie from the city’s development is a sin..."

Leo looked directly into Carter Wright’s eyes.

"Then I plead guilty."

A burst of applause erupted from the audience.

Carter Wright’s expression darkened slightly.

He hadn’t expected Leo to so skillfully turn the accusation of ’squandering money’ into a matter of ’class solidarity’.

The host had to raise his voice to cut through the applause.

"Alright, on to the next topic."

The host flipped over the card in his hand, his expression turning serious.

"This past week, the clash in front of City Hall shocked the entire city. Former Police Chief Dave Miller was subsequently dismissed and is now under investigation."

This was an extremely sensitive topic.

It was also the trump card Carter Wright had prepared.

"Mayor Carter Wright, as the city’s administrator, you bear undeniable responsibility for this incident," the host asked. "What is your assessment of what happened that day?"

Carter Wright immediately took the floor.

A look of deep sorrow and distress quickly appeared on his face.

He had rehearsed that expression once before at a press conference, and now it came to him effortlessly.

"It was a tragedy."

Carter Wright’s voice was low and full of emotion.

"When I saw Lady Margaret fall to the ground that day, my heart broke."

"I dealt with Chief Miller immediately. Whoever breaks the law and uses excessive force must pay the price. That is my principle."

He extricated himself from the situation cleanly, establishing the image of someone who would uphold justice even at the expense of his own people.

Then, the dagger was revealed.

"But."

Carter Wright raised his head, his gaze sharpening as he pointed it directly at Leo.

"While we punish the enforcer, we must also seriously ask a fundamental question: Who brought chaos to the steps of City Hall?"

"Who disregarded city regulations and illegally set up an office on a public lawn?"

"Who incited those emotional workers to storm a government office building?"

Carter Wright pressed his attack, his presence overwhelming.

"Mr. Wallace, you treat these confrontational protests as a method of governing a city."

"You use inciting the public’s emotions as a means of communication."

"Today you can camp on the City Hall lawn. Tomorrow, if you become Mayor and the city council doesn’t pass your budget, are you going to lead people to set fire to the council chambers?"

Carter Wright struck the podium with his hand, making a THUMP THUMP sound.

"Pittsburgh needs order, the rule of law, and rational dialogue."

"Not a circus putting on a daily farce."

The word "circus" was extremely insulting.

It belittled all of Leo’s previous efforts, reducing them to a comical performance.

It was a huge trap.

If Leo tried to argue that he hadn’t incited violence, he would get bogged down in a quagmire of self-defense.

If Leo attacked the police for their violence, Carter Wright would accuse him of being "anti-law enforcement," which would alienate centrist voters.

Backstage, Ethan and Karen held their breath.

It was a no-win situation.

Leo stood behind his podium.

He listened to Carter Wright’s accusations, looking at the man’s self-righteous face.

’Don’t be afraid of him. Look down on him,’ he remembered Roosevelt’s words.

Leo just sighed softly and shook his head.

"Mr. Mayor."

Leo began, "You call the demands of several hundred workers for their rightful pay a ’circus’?"

"You call the cries of citizens fighting for survival a ’farce’?"

"This only proves one thing."

"You’ve been sitting in your luxurious office, with its triple-paned soundproof glass, for far too long."

"So long that you can no longer hear the sounds of the real world."

Leo placed both hands on his podium.

"You ask who brought the chaos?"

"I’d also like to ask you, why did my team and I have to move our operations out onto the lawn, braving the bitter cold?"

"Was it because someone thought our office was too crowded? Was it because we enjoy camping?"

"No."

"It was because someone used the power at their disposal to lock the doors to our office without cause, to cut off our utilities, and to even freeze the account containing the funds from the Federal Government meant to pay the workers’ wages."

"You talk about order."

Leo let out a cold laugh.

"What is order?"

"Is it a mayor using administrative measures to suppress his political opponent at will?"

"Is it a police chief using pepper spray on an unarmed old woman just to curry favor with his superior?"

"True order is built on fairness and justice."

"It is not built on the shields of riot police and clouds of tear gas."

"When those in power are the first to break the rules and trample on fairness..."

"The people standing up to resist is not chaos."

"It’s called righting a wrong."

As Leo’s words fell, the entire studio fell into a brief silence.

Then, thunderous applause.

This time, even some of the media reporters in the back rows, who had originally held a neutral stance, couldn’t help but applaud.

It was a logical victory.

Leo hadn’t gotten bogged down in the details of "whether there was violence." He had elevated the issue to the level of "cause and effect" and "the ethics of power."

He had stripped away the cloak of "order" from Carter Wright, revealing the "tyranny" that lay beneath.

Across from him, a muscle in Carter Wright’s face twitched.

He felt it.

The same reversal of momentum he’d experienced in the hallway was happening again.

’Very good,’ Roosevelt’s voice rang in Leo’s mind. ’You hit him on the chin. Now, don’t give him a chance to breathe.’

The debate had only just begun.

The best part was yet to come.