President Opalen's first year was mostly damage control, after his predecessor's work on alienating the non-Human members of the Phoenix Alliance. It was true that as a Derivative, he was still regarded as Human, regardless of legal definitions or how Humans thought about it. His VP, Sahri Wanda, took on a larger role than most VPs did, by representing the government with non-Humans still suspicious of former President Bynum's policies.
He found that the lack of distinction between Human and Derivative was a double edged sword, but it worked mostly in his favour in terms of actually doing his job.
What still baffled him mid-way through his term was how menial things could so often prove to be the most taxing...