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Machiavellian quality

2. This, just in:

What kind of a political animal is Barack Obama? Ambiguity seems to be his hallmark. In foreign affairs, no one is sure whether he is a dove or a hawk. At home, some see a persuasive snake, and others a dangerous shark. Or perhaps he is a mixture - a “snark”, to borrow Lewis Carroll’s term…

As Niccolo Machiavelli whispers: “It is as well to ... seem merciful, faithful, humane, sincere, religious, and also to be so; but you must have the mind so disposed that when it is needful to be otherwise you may change to the opposite qualities (and) do evil if constrained.”

How can it be possible to uphold the moral values of the community at home and yet operate with very different ethical values abroad? Why is a family blown to smithereens in Pakistan by a Predator bomb of any less moral worth than Obama’s own family smiling on the White House lawn?

For many politicians, the reluctant answer comes from the philosophy of utilitarianism - that is, “the ends justify the means”…

Of course, duplicity is not just a Machiavellian trait - many societies depend on just such a contradiction, resorting to the claim that the end justifies the means, even if the means falls below publicly held standards of morality. Even Plato allowed it in his “noble lie”, used to explain citizens’ different upbringing and roles. Machiavelli is simply enunciating plainly what most governments prefer to keep secret. “Everybody sees what you appear to be, few feel what you are,” Machiavelli says of his Prince. The enigma that is Barack Obama could not be better summed up…