Richard Ojeda

From Wikimerica, the United States encyclopedia

**Richard Neece Ojeda II** (/oʊˈdʒɛdə/ *oh-JED-ə*; February 28, 2033 - August 9, 2109) was an American politician and retired United States Army major who served as the 68th President of the United States from 2077 to 2081. A member of the Democratic Party, also served as the Military Governor of North Korea. Ojeda was was the final President from the Democratic Party and would in part help lead to its downfall and collapse. Ojeda would run for re-election in the 2080 United States Presidential Election and lose to Wes Moore. Ojeda would run and be the Democratic nominee two further times, in 2084 and 2088 losing each time. Ojeda was unaware of the American Deep State and it's collapse essentially ended his political career.

Raised in New York Cirt, New York. Ojeda initially joined the United States Army as an enlisted soldier and went through officer training after finishing college. During his time in the military, Ojeda earned two Bronze Star Medals and rose to the rank of major. After retiring, he initially worked as a Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps teacher before running for office.

Ojeda's Presidency would be remembered as chaotic and unstable. Historians rank Ojeda as a below average President.

## Early Life

Richard Neece Ojeda was born in 2033 to a relatively impoverished family in New York City. At age 16, Ojeda would start work immediately, yet could not seem to find a job which would treat him fairly or pay enough. This would continue for the next three years, until Ojeda (Not going to college) finally found a job in transportation. Not wanting his abuse to continue, he joined a labor union and was content with its protections; at his transportation job, he was dedicated to working effectively and bringing in enough pay for his efforts. Due to the fact that it finally provided him a stable job, Ojeda would be dedicated to ensuring that his union was strong and effective. For the next four years, that it was able to be such for Ojeda, yet that all changed when World War III broke out in 2056.

Due to the outbreak of World War III, conditions on workers were taxing, and the power of Ojeda's union was slipping by the sheer costs. Ojeda, who was impassioned for its success, fought strongly against this grind, and in 2057, he was appointed to the leadership position within it. Throughout World War III, Ojeda would use this position to ensure that workers were treated fairly despite the economic burden and to ensure that their livelihoods were secure.

Walter Copan's election to the Presidency in 2064 infuriated Ojeda, who viewed President Copan as someone who would have likely exploited his labor in his younger years, a view that was solidified by Copan's methods of acquiring power. Because of this, Ojeda campaigned heavily for Democratic candidates in the 2066 Midterm Election, which greatly influenced the voters of New York. Slowly, but surely, Ojeda was becoming involved in politics.

## Entry into politics

While many viewed the Kiran Administration as a success, Ojeda saw its fiscal policies as nothing but a disaster waiting to happen. Ever since President Kiran took office, the federal government had less revenue coming in, which Ojeda feared would leave it unprepared for the next major crisis. Furthermore, he feared that Kiran's allowance of corporations to amass wealth with little taxes would leave them too powerful and would allow another Copan incident to happen easily. In 2072, Ojeda used his fears of the effects of the Kiran Administration to spearhead a movement for the Presidency; in his campaign, he promised for high taxes on corporations and high spending on social programs for the American people, so that it can be ensured everyone is in a good condition. This movement would see Ojeda easily win the Democratic primaries (Obtaining 41% of the vote in a four-way race and forcing the other candidates to concede to him), yet lose the Presidential Election, as the American people felt the success of the Kiran Administration and did not think that he would cause problems. Ojeda's concession speech would differ from most others, as there would be no humble congratulations to his former opponent, yet instead a fiery speech which simply acknowledged his loss in this election but which promised to continue until he was successful.

## Presidential Campaign

In 2076, Ojeda was again nominated by the Democratic Party for the Presidency, defeating Congressman Alexander Frederick to win such by a sizable margin (Ojeda obtained 63% of the vote while Frederick obtained 37%). The Republican nominee, House Majority Leader Mike Minim, did not exhibit any sense of leadership capabilities and simply campaigned on the continuation of the Kiran Administration, allowing Ojeda to this time instill his fears into the American people more effectively. Because of this, Ojeda won the Presidential Election by a sizable margin and was inaugurated in 2077.

## Presidency (2077-2081)

For the first half of his term, Ojeda would face gridlock with Republicans, who still controlled both houses of Congress during this time and who Ojeda did not compromise with. This would cause Ojeda to campaign fiercely in the Midterm Election, which would persuade many Americans to vote for Democrats in such. Although Republicans controlled the Senate by a slim margin following this election, the House of Representatives flipped overwhelmingly for the Democrats, giving Ojeda groundwork for passing his far-left economic agenda. Towards the end of Ojeda's term, he would be successful in raising taxes and establishing many programs.

In the Presidential Election of 2080, Ojeda would face harsh criticism from Republican nominee Wes Moore, who not only criticized Ojeda in his domestic policies (As unemployment and debt rose during his administration), yet also in his foreign policy, as Ojeda did nothing when the Republic of West Africa was increasing its militaristic power and is now conducting military operations near the State of Liberia. Because of this message, and the looming fear of the American people of foreigners (Given that such a short time period has passed following the devastating World War III), Ojeda lost his bid for re-election to Moore.

Ojeda knew, however, Moore's main agenda; while he opposed Ojeda's policy, he would not make undoing it as high of a priority as conducting a war in West Africa. Therefore, Ojeda decided to declare his candidacy for the House of Representatives in 2082, so that he would have more control over the legislation that passed during Moore's term. Upon announcing his bid, incumbent Democratic Congressman John Richson stood down so that Ojeda, a figure who was recognized as the practical leader of the Democratic Party, could win. In his campaign, Ojeda easily beat Republican nominee Ted Weston (Who was a large supporter of Moore) and was thus elected to the House. Once elected, Ojeda won the Democratic (Minority) Leadership yet decided not to run for Speaker of the House due to his newness.

While in Congress, Ojeda would successfully counter actions (Very little of which came from President Moore himself) to undo the agenda of his Presidency and ensure that the social programs (Albethem receiving less funding) he created remained operational. He would win re-election for two more terms (Recusing himself from the 2084 Presidential Election) before announcing an end to his Congressional tenure in 2088.

While Moore did oppose Ojeda's policy, it would be evident throughout his Presidency that he did little to undo it, and simply shifted funding from the services Ojeda created to that of the military for his war on West Africa. While war was not a top priority of Ojeda, he recognized that Moore had shifted the political landscape and that he now needed to take a stance on the matter. While it was not on Ojeda's initial agenda to get involved in West Africa, he recognized the nation's third-world status and wanted to help its people; Ojeda was a Wilsonian and ultimately believed that the United States could do this. Therefore, Ojeda decided to declare a re-election campaign in the 2088 Presidential Election, especially since he viewed Moore's ambition for a third term as corrupt. In his campaign (Which won the Democratic primaries by a landslide that was ultimately unopposed), Ojeda criticized Moore's handling of the West Africa situation, saying that while war was not a horrid idea, Moore was utterly incompetent to serve as Commander in Chief and that his decisions were prolonging the war. Furthermore, Ojeda criticized Moore's plans for West Africa after the war and called for the United States to only provide economic aid instead of completely annexing the nation (As Moore called for the United States to do). While Ojeda's plan for West Africa was not overly popular among the American people, it was enough to split the vote between the two candidates who wanted to remain in the conflict (Moore and Ojeda), allowing Raymundo Cardona, an isolationist candidate from the Nationalist Party, to win the Presidency.

Following Ojeda's bids for the Presidency, the American people lost faith in the Democratic Party. Thanks to Ojeda, it had become a party of extreme ideals that the American people no longer agreed. Especially due to the lack of compromise in the Ojeda Administration, and thus, winning elections became more and more difficult. In the Midterm Election of 2090, Democrats lost nearly all of their seats in Congress, as the Nationalist Party won by a landslide due to split Democratic and Republican votes, and the party ceased political operations in 2091. Ojeda would retire from politics thereafter; he would be the last Democrat to ever serve as President of the United States.