Block 2-2: Politics as usual

[Zeke]

The stage is set; time to finally meet a couple of our main characters. First we have President Whitmore (Bill Pullman), who's loosely Clinton-based but reminds me more of B5's John Sheridan. He wakes up next to his young daughter, takes a call from his wife, and then briefly talks politics with his communications director, Constance; finally the SecDef calls with the big news. Constance, as we'll find out later, is the ex-wife of...

David Levinson (Jeff Goldblum), who's playing chess with his dad in Central Park. His dad -- named Julius in the film, Moishe in the script -- is a Jewish cliche, so naturally he's nagging his son. David then goes to his job at a cable company, where his boss Marty, who's been trying to reach him for a while, is in a panic -- all the satellites in Earth orbit have suddenly stopped responding.

One or two scenes for each paragraph, ideally not two for both. (Personally, I'd leave out Constance's first appearance; we can establish her later.) Script's still here.

Side note: The First Lady is played by Mary McDonnell, who was already famous at this point for Dances With Wolves, but is best known these days as BSG's Laura Roslin. Naturally this is prime reference fodder, especially since there's a scene where she's dying.