Creating America: My campaign manager was Roosevelt

Chapter 15 Retrospective Meeting

Stepping out of the city hall, the sunlight outside was a bit dazzling.

Leo and the community residents stood on the steps, and no one spoke.

The residents, who were just moments ago full of fighting spirit, now had faces filled with disappointment.

"I knew it. It's no use trying to reason with these guys in suits," Frank broke the silence first, his voice filled with anger. "They're all in cahoots."

"What do we do now? Are they really going to sell our center?" Rosa's voice was trembling with tears.

"That lawyer named Wechsler is too formidable," George sighed. "We simply can't argue with him."

People started complaining quietly.

"I should never have placed my hopes on a mere kid."

"Yeah, what else can he do besides say a few nice things?"

These words, neither too loud nor too soft, reached Leo's ears perfectly.

He was consumed by deep self-blame and frustration.

This was the first time he had ever felt so acutely the coldness and cruelty of realpolitik.

Here, justice and morality are worthless.

He thought he could change things with his passion and historical knowledge.

But reality gave him a resounding slap in the face.

Margaret walked over to Leo and patted him on the shoulder.

"Don't take it to heart, child," she said. "They're just very disappointed, it's not about you. You've done your best."

Leo didn't speak.

He knew that trying his best was the most useless excuse.

He led this group of people who trusted him to a defeat.

That evening, Leo returned to his apartment alone.

He threw himself onto the sofa and stared at the ceiling.

Frustration overwhelmed him like a tidal wave.

Roosevelt's voice echoed in his mind.

This time, there was no encouragement in his voice; instead, it was very stern.

"You made a fatal mistake today, the kind of mistake a green recruit makes on his first day on the battlefield!"

Roosevelt's voice boomed in Leo's mind.

"You treated the battlefield like a church, the hearing like a sermon, and you tried to use morality to reform a pack of wolves who only care about their own interests!"

Leo felt a surge of resentment and indignation.

"Aren't we on the side of justice?" he retorted. "Everything we've done is to protect this community. Is that wrong?"

"Justice?" Roosevelt's voice was laced with sarcasm. "At the table of power, justice is something the victors use to write history! The losers are only qualified to be defined and forgotten."

"Do you think the law is your shield? You pray to it like it's the Bible, hoping it will protect you. You're wrong! Utterly wrong!"

"The law is a weapon! It's the iron bar you use to smash your opponent's kneecap! You must understand the rules better than them, be better at using the rules, and dare to walk the line between the rules and reality! Otherwise, you will be crushed by the rules themselves!"

This reprimand jolted Leo out of his self-pity.

He sat up and turned on the light.

"Now, dry your tears and put away your cheap sense of defeat." Roosevelt's tone regained its composure. "Let's have a debriefing meeting."

"Go through all the details of today's hearing in your mind, like watching a movie, frame by frame."

Under Roosevelt's guidance, Leo forced himself to calm down.

He closed his eyes and began to recall.

Every scene from the hearing was vividly etched in his mind.

"Let's start from the beginning," Roosevelt said. "What was the first thing Wechsler did when he walked in?"

"He stood up, smiled at us, and nodded," Leo replied.

"This is a demonstration," Roosevelt immediately analyzed. "He is using his politeness and manners to highlight your rudeness and incompetence. Psychologically, from the very beginning, he wants to define you as a group of unruly intruders."

What was his reason for interrupting your first statement?

He said my remarks were irrelevant to the topic.

"It's a trap," Roosevelt said. "Through the chairmanship, he has drawn up a battleground that is most advantageous to him. He has successfully narrowed a public issue about the survival of the community into a dry debate about legal procedures. In this field, he is the expert, and you are the novice."

"Think again, what was Chairman Jennings' expression when he showed him the reply to that letter?"

Leo tried hard to recall.

"He just glanced at it and then immediately adopted it."

"This shows they were in cahoots all along. That receipt was their first line of defense. No matter what you say, they'll use it to shut you up."

And so, Roosevelt, like a top-notch mentor, guided Leo through frame-by-frame analysis of Wechsler’s every word, every action, and every micro-expression and eye contact of the municipal officials.

The more Leo analyzed it, the more alarmed he became.

He discovered that the seemingly mundane hearing was actually full of countless carefully designed traps and psychological games.

He himself, like an innocent child, plunged headlong into it without any warning.

The debriefing session lasted for several hours.

Leo's brain had reached its limit, and just when he felt he was about to give up, Roosevelt suddenly stopped him on a certain screen.

That was the moment when Chairman Jennings announced the final decision at the end of the hearing.

"Repeat his last words again," Roosevelt ordered.

"He said...unless we can present decisive new evidence of significant flaws in the auction process," Leo recalled.

"That's it," Roosevelt said, a hint of excitement in his voice. "Didn't you notice? When he said that, he subconsciously glanced to his left. It was a subtle expression of guilt and self-protection; he was leaving himself an escape route."

"Why would he leave himself an escape route?" Leo asked, puzzled.

"Because he knew that the whole process was not as flawless as Wechsler had made it out to be. There must be some flaws somewhere that they themselves could not completely cover up."

"Our breakthrough lies here."

Under Roosevelt's guidance, Leo turned the computer back on.

He retrieved the Pittsburgh City Asset Disposal Ordinance.

This is a document that is hundreds of pages long and filled with dry legal jargon.

"Don't look at the general terms, jump straight to the chapter on 'Special Assets'," Roosevelt instructed.

Leo found the relevant chapter.

"Now, carefully read Article 11, Section B."

Leo saw the rule.

"For assets of non-profit organizations that are part of the 'community public service,' the city hall must announce the disposal at least 60 days in advance in at least three local Pittsburgh media outlets before deciding to hold a public auction."

"Three public media outlets..." Leo murmured to himself.

At this moment, the dawn of a counterattack shone into this late-night apartment.

He immediately began frantically investigating.

He found the auction notice on the municipal government website, which was published 45 days ago, not meeting the 60-day requirement.

He then searched through the archives of all local newspapers' back issues.

It was eventually discovered that, apart from the municipal government's official website, this announcement had only been published once in a local newspaper with a circulation of less than a thousand copies.

It does not meet the requirements of "three public media outlets" at all.

This is a minor but fatal flaw in the programming.

"We found it!" Leo exclaimed excitedly, almost jumping out of his chair. "I'll draft a document right now and submit it to the city council's oversight committee first thing tomorrow morning!"

"No."

Roosevelt stopped him.

"It's not the right time yet."

"Why?" Leo asked, puzzled. "This is decisive evidence!"

"A procedural flaw can at most delay them by a week, allowing them to go through the public disclosure process again." Roosevelt's voice regained its composure. "What we want is not delay."

What we want is a complete victory.

"Before the next hearing, we must prepare a gift that can completely destroy them."