deprecated - Amelie Barnhardt (President of the United States of America)

"Every time an American takes the oath of the Presidency, it has been a momentous occasion for all. Most of those have been occasions for celebration- the dream of a new age for America realized. Frankly, I must tell you that that the man who took this oath four years ago today created cause for nothing but frustration, anger, and apathy. Of course, today, we move past that apathy- today, I stand before you, humbled by America's decision to place its trust, shaken by so many tragedies, in a little girl from Rotterdam- humbled by our rediscovered voice and will to overcome crises past and the crisis we find ourselves in. I promise you will all the vigor you have lended me that whether under me or one of my esteemed successors, America will rebuild. The eagle can only sleep for so long."
- Amelie Barnhardt in a segment of the 2060 Presidential Inaugural Address in Washington, DC

Amelie Walter Barnhardt is a prominent Dutch-American politician and hydroengineer serving as the 53rd President of the United States of America. She is the face of the Communal Progressive Party and the champion of its wide-reaching efforts to restart the American economy, combat political strain between decentralized government and Washington and combat the extensive sea level rise and climate change that ravaged America before her inauguration.

Early Life

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Amelie was born in Rotterdam on January 7th, 2024, moving with her extended family to New Haven in 2026, just before the Graysen Flare and the following partial societal collapse of the Storm. Persevering through the Storm throughout her childhood, she picked up engineering and machining, making an art out of maintaining and sometimes upgrading the the basic electronics and tools that sustained the communes of Connecticut. Eventually becoming part of the first post-Storm educated generation, she had already took an interest in hydroengineering before enrolling into the University of Hartford's civil engineering course. Finding her precociously well-developed engineering knowledge (with a side hobby in law) in high demand across the flooding American East Coast, leading multiple high-profile seawall projects across the northeast and becoming a well-known figure in the annals of obscure civil engineering magazines.

Rise in Politics

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The Unified Long Island Drain Initiative, the largest hydroengineering project yet attempted in the Northeast, was missing a chief designer, and Amelie was tapped for the role. While she proved extremely competent, the logistical side of the project was a nightmare- materials and funding from Washington were often in short supply and of low quality due to pervasive corruption, and despite the Drain Initiative being praised as a sign of a rebuilding and resurging America, with the project's nominal lead, entrenched Connecticut senator Charlie Walstrom (UP), taking most of the praise, Amelie discussed with fellow engineers in private about her fears for the project, accruing great respect in industry circles despite being just 26. Her fears were proven correct when a small breach in the main seawall near Islip stressed the badly built drains beyond saving, and a flood of apparently biblical proportions forced the evacuation of recently resettled low-lying Long Island areas and a massive scandal upon the leading senator and the presidential administration she was tied to. Amelie, spotting an opportunity to effect change in the government's hydroengineering playbook, ran to replace the ousted Walstrom, winning a stunning victory as a barely-of-age independent in 2054 against the politically entrenched Union Party candidate. The upset thrust Amelie into national news, where she railed against government corruption and inefficiency, especially in the UP. As a result, the UP would further entrench their rule in the federal government, through vaguely legal methods as they had done before, and Amelie would be the last non-UP candidate elected to Congress until 2059. During that time, she inadvertently became the the voice of rebellion against the UP, using her independent status and fame to say things many other politicians would say if not for the specter of UP intimidation. Thus, when the Union Party and its crypto-authoritarianism finally collapsed with the semi-legal ousting of President Zacharias Bell (UP) in the midst of the Flood Crisis, progressives, communalists and social democrats rallied behind Amelie, forming the Communal Progressive Party in opposition to the Democratic Patriot Union and Pacific Party, all three vying for control of the new American democracy in unprecedented combined federal snap elections. When the dust had cleared, the CPP controlled the federal government, with President Amelie Walter Barnhardt at its head, promising political and social liberalization, a revitalized worker-friendly economy, the tackling of corruption, and sweeping climate change relief.

Leadership

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Amelie, having just settled into the Oval Office with a comfortable CPP voting majority in both houses of Congress, Amelie has spent her first month focusing on rooting out the parasitic embers of the collapsed Union Party, expelling its political appointments from federal positions and replacing them in a generally meritocratic fashion. Despite the UP's demise, the apathy and resignation it produced in the American populace is still evident across the country's political scene.

For & Against

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Personal Information

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Personal Trivia