the president examines his currency

Before him, on the desk, the President is examining currency. The bills are laid out in sequence. 'This one here, it's queer as a two dollar bill.' He points to the $2 bill. 'I didn't know we had this. What can you get for two dollars?' He is looking at the bills turning them from face to back and again. To the side sits the jeweler's loupe that never worked right.

'We've got a war here. Where are the fronts? How do we reinforce them? What time's my golf game?' The President paced the room. The wranglers sat with pads of paper in their laps. The temperature of the nation was intemperate. The leak-proof fishbowl was dropping water. 'Hearts and minds. Hearts and minds,' the Secretary was murmuring in his sleep. The President demanded updates on the education strategy. There was some bad news.

'You see this one here?' the President is indicating the $100 bill. 'Financier of terrorist activities. This is the message we send our children? And this one was the leader of the terrorists, wood teeth and all.' The $2 bill is a problem for the President. 'We want to hold up the blood oath of a terror cell as a tableau worthy of nation's money? Lionizing the mastermind of revolution with his face on a nickel?' An assistant points out that the Revolution was in the name of tax cuts. This is considered, and the assistant is detained. 'Now, I like this guy on the five spot and his friend on the fifty, but all these others have to go. We have to get on message here people. We can't talk out one lip. Let's look at Rockefeller and Ford, and not that other Rockefeller, the real one. Let's get a real picture of America. And what can you buy for two dollars?' The President is moved by the possibilities.

'We're going to have some difficulties here, and here.' The education specialists were poring over a map of a child's mind. 'When we insert information about the history of the nation, we have to avoid triggering connections with other revolutionary movements. As with any, so with our's there is only one revolutionary movement.' A brief debate ensued. Did it matter if we taught about the Revolution? Was anyone better off knowing the nation was born from an anarchist plot?

'Get the mint on the phone. Stop the presses.' The President is in a fever. The advisors are looking uncomfortable. It was one thing to add a little color to the bills so the Dutch would stop making fun of us, and the Iranians would stop printing Franklins. This newest proposal has a spin problem. Do we tell the public that we have seen the enemy and it is us?

'These young brains are so plastic. If we feed them a constant and consistent diet, we can move them away from the dangerous areas. But if we let up, if we do not connect all the dots, then, well, it's just the way they work. They are information eating, dot-connecting machines. And they don't connect the right dots to the right dots. This is the problem. This is how a counter culture erupts.' The education specialists considered the eruption of a counter culture. The household goods manufacturers would take a serious hit. 'There can be no sins of omission. If we don't have a lot of straight and bold lines connecting every goddamned dot then all the sweaters are going to unravel.'

'We're gonna need a new daddy. The old one won't do.' The President is rewriting history with a crayon on a large pad of paper leaning on an easel. The message is security and freedom, the oil and vinegar of Americanism. 'Let's put on our smart caps and think of how we can give a washing to Washington. We can't ignore him. Too many maps in circulation.' An aide suggests a repositioning strategy; Washington as free-market prototype. The President makes a note on the pad with a smiley face next to it.