The Prince...

"A prince should...have no other aim or target, nor take up any other thing for his study, but war and its organization and discipline."
----Niccolo Machiavelli

Kevin Phillips says the patron saint of the Bush family is Machiavelli, though it's likely G.W. would wonder if that isn't the guy who played shortstop for the Brooklyn Dodgers for part of a season in the 1940s. John Dean says that the real president in matters of policy is Dick Cheney, and that his greatest skill is convincing G.W. that he's the president. Dean says G.W. is a terrific Head of State, which is a bit more than a figurehead of state but not a lot. Or, maybe he's just the Prince.

This Prince had a few goals for his so-called press conference Tuesday: be resolute, hit the Churchill buttons, don't smirk, don't back down on anything, but have a humble manner. Talk war---make a few offhand-seeming comments that are mildly surprising, almost generous; but be sure to subtly impugn the patriotism of anyone who opposes you. Niccolo would have been proud.

This Prince is a war president. He has to be---it's the only kind of president he is capable of being. If he wasn't blowing up things, killing and maiming people at long distance, throwing around the present power of the U.S. (while running through the country's resources like a multiple drug addict in a casino), he wouldn't be a Leader, he wouldn't be president at all---he'd be his own vice-president, trotted out to get pictures taken with foreign leaders, and sent to present merit badges to visiting Boy Scouts. He'd most certainly not be the Prince.

Did it ever occur to you that what might make the Prince of Darkness so dangerous would be that he believes---or consciously adheres to the belief--that he is the Prince of Peace?

Way back when, Bush's speechwriter came up with the line, "axis of hatred," already a sublime oversimplification, a bit of inflammatory rhetoric that is basically unforgiveable. But the Bushies weren't satisfied, they wanted something more "Biblical." Thus was "Axis of Evil" slouched into the language, by the worst who are full of passionate intensity.

Us good. They evil. Us love freedom. Them hate freedom. It's just that simple. Which is why it was important that Bush not admit any mistakes. Which is why any recognition of complexity, attempt to deal with the real needs of others in the dynamics of the moment, is in the Bushie lexicon, flip-flopping. (It's also hypocrisy, but what else is new?)

Do you get it yet? It might sound like: in this particular situation, what America is trying to achieve is good for the people of Iraq, good for the Middle East and the world, and good for American interests. So what's not to like? Except the body bags, which causes your prince to have a royal stomach churn, aren't you impressed that he can admit feelings just like the commoners have?

But it's heard like: America, we're good people, so we do good things. If we aren't completely good, then we must be evil. But we can't live with ourselves if we think we're evil. So we want to believe the Leader who tells us what we do is good. All of it. We're Soldiers of God, fighting those fanatics who believe they are soldiers of God fighting the infidels who believe they are....etc.

So we'll get back to politics, including Realpolitik, soon enough. But for the moment, isn't it strange? We apparently have a United States that is firmly divided in half, which is so archetypal it's scary. Those driven by the shadow profess themselves the guardians and champions of the light? Is this Biblical enough for you? It's practically a description of the anti-Christ from the Apocalypse of John, which should be more familiar to Bush's supporters than his opponents---they're the ones waiting for, hoping for and perhaps working for the Apocalypse. In that prophesy, the anti-Christ claims to be the Messiah. Maybe it's more psychology than prophesy. The Prince of Darkness may be Unconsciousness unchained. Maybe that's how it works, throughout history, and to end history.