Unexpectedly extra fun to write these scenes!
Meeting the White House staff proved less awkward than he thought; the Marine guards (their uniforms were far less archaic-looking than the prismatic peacockery of Old American formal dress) saluted President Whitman, and he reflexively saluted back. After that, everybody seemed ready to shake his hand. A few cried when they did it, but that happened to Whitman in the Second Republic, too. It came with the job; and he knew that you shouldn’t let it go to your head, because it was because of the job, not because of you.
The last person to greet him was an older man. Not as old as Whitman, but not like the youngsters, either. He smiled, thinly, and said “Good evening, Mr. President. I am Glenn Alexander, your White House Chief of Staff. Welcome home, sir.”
The Second Republic wasn’t any sort of Machiavellian snake pit or anything like that, but there was nothing wrong with President Whitman’s political instincts, either. The smile didn’t match the eyes which didn’t match the words, and it was for damned certain that the last sentence there was a lie. Or at least this Alexander fellow didn’t mean it. But that was all right. Hell, that was familiar. Not everybody back home was always happy to see Whitman, either.
None of this showed in Whitmans’s own smile or eyes or words as he readily took Alexander’s hand in his own. “It’s so good to finally meet you, Chief Alexander! Excuse me: the Honorable Glenn Alexander!” Whitman then turned to the crowd of staffers and flashed a grin roughly three times as wide as he would have used in the Second Republic. “And I’m real glad to see the rest of you, too,” he said far more truthfully. He turned back to Alexander, who had discreetly discovered at this point that Whitman had the grip of a head of state; friendly, telegenic, and utterly inexorable. “I’m so sorry you had to turn out of your beds at this late an hour to meet me,” Whitman went on, still smiling. “I’ll try to keep more regular hours while I’m here!” Then he let go of Alexander’s hand.