Il Principe

I really did love that book...

One of the things that many scholars attribute to the work's success is that he wrote it in the vernacular Italian of the day, rather than the more scholarly (and less read) Latin. However, be that as it may... I really doubt very much that Obama, or anyone else in the White House has read the work.

Machiavelli broke new ground with this work because he was writing of the sort of monarch that would act with an eye towards realism, rather than idealism. There is nothing about the Obama Administration that makes me think anyone within it even knows what the textbook definition of "realism" actually is... they all are so wrapped up in ideals and day-dreams that it is a wonder anything gets accomplished at all, good or bad. Machiavelli also felt that it was far better (and far safer for the state and the Prince) to be "feared rather than loved". That isn't something I think Obama would admit to... nor would any Democratic politician since Johnson, I think.

Nicco was a real visionary... he thought a strong military meant nothing if that strength wasn't tested and proven (and that fairly often) with carefully planned and executed conquests of neighboring states. He thought that the main "heartbeat" of a state wasn't with the Prince himself, but instead with the "prosperity" that Prince brought to his people... which is 15th Century-speak for good economic planning on the part of the government. He was convinced that the people look to the Prince for protection and justice ONLY, and that honor and prosperity would flow from them, but when the people turned to the Prince for more than protection and justice, tyranny and abuse were sure to follow.

Had the medium been around 500 years ago... I'd say the man was perfect for a talk radio show of his very own.

I'll give you this, though... one thing that both Machiavelli and Obama seem to agree on: republican government fails each and every time. Lest we forget, Niccollo only knew of the "republics" that had gone before him: Rome (first and foremost), classical Athens (more a true democracy, really) and Venice (which he hated... he was a Florentine). All of these had faded into obscurity and tyranny within only a century (or four, in the case of Rome). So, if you're looking for Machiavelli quotes to fall from Obama's lips... it will be those concerning the death and corruption inherent in a republic.