At Lily Chang's behest, Roderick attends a meeting of the Old Ivy Republican Club in the Beaune Room.
Stepping inside, he scans the room. It is dimly lit and darkly paneled, with a few small stained glass windows. A fire crackles in the fireplace, over which there hangs a portrait of Auguste Beaune. The wooden floors are partially covered with oriental rugs. Folding chairs are arranged in soldierly rows, facing a lectern at one end of the room.
A throng of students fills the room, mostly Republicans but also a few trolls, distinguishable by their footwear. Roderick recognizes a few people in the room -- Megan Cupcake, of course, plus the Reed twins, Michael Dampfen and a couple of the Changs from the Chamber Orchestra violin section, Zack from Bach Chorale and a quodlibet of faces, some of which he recognizes.
Lily Chang, stunningly dressed in a bright red tightly fitting dress with plunging neckline, steps to the podium. "OK, everyone, take your seats! Let's get started!" This command sets off a veritable scrum for available seats. Roderick just barely manages to get one next to one of the trolls.
"Hi, my name's Roderick." He extends his hand to the troll, who is of the girl variety, with long stringy hair and large glasses. Roderick thinks she has the potential to be attractive with small improvements to her personal hygiene.
"Fuck off, pig." Miss Troll, it seems, is not here to mingle.
"OK, everyone, thank you for coming tonight." Lily adjusts the microphone. "I know, I know, the election last week sucked. But it's time to move on. Our speaker is Mr. Parvulesco of the Politics department, who is here to take your questions."
The crowd applauds respectfully as Mr. Parvulesco shambles to the podium. He is quite tall, well over six feet, with shaggy white hair and a somewhat disheveled look. He waves to the crowd.
Immediately, there is a forest of hands in the air. Lily points to a smartly dressed collegian in the front row. "Bradley, you first."
Bradley stands and faces Mr. Parvulesco. "What should Republicans in Congress do now?"
Mr. Parvulesco inspects his fingernails. "Nothing."
Forest of hands. Lily points to another student, who rises. "What about the fiscal cliff?"
"It's Obama's problem," says Mr. Parvulesco, slightly bored.
Another question. "Won't higher taxes hurt the economy?"
"They might. It's still Obama's problem."
"But Obama will blame Republicans in Congress if they don't co-operate and make a deal."
"He'll blame Republicans no matter what they do, and make stuff up if necessary. No deal is better than a bad deal."
"But isn't that a risk for Republicans?"
"What risk? According to opinion polls, Americans blame Republicans in Congress for the last fiscal standoff and hold Congress in the lowest esteem ever, and yet most of them just got re-elected. Chances are that in two years Republicans will pick up more seats no matter what happens now."
"Doesn't the President have a mandate?"
"Yes, and so do Congressional Republicans."
"But the election was an electoral landslide."
"Four hundred thousand votes out of a hundred and thirty million cast. A fraction of one percent. Obama won by turning out his base with narrowly targeted and personalized messages. That's not a mandate for anything other than Big Bird and Binders."
(To be continued)...
