the twenty percent

while you are busy bringing peace to the holy lands, you need not worry about your re-election; you have an eighty percent mandate; it will be like johnson v goldwater.

it is your legacy that must concern you. do not wind up like nixon in his second term. be concerned about the twenty percent who balk at your success.

the token opposition will likely be represented by the most ardent of your supporters. offer him a post in your next government as a magnanimous display of bipartisanship.

admirers will ride to office on your coat-tails. you will be the most powerful president since the great roosevelt. and have the most responsibility. do not fail here.

opposition will mainly appear in the form of pitiful whining about the cost of deposing a tyrant and liberating a people. it will only serve to discredit the whiners.

more serious will be the allegations of conflict of interest among the chief inspirers and implementers of your success. those who stand to profit from the liberation will be branded as war criminals by a desperate minority with nothing to lose.

honor the architects of your success by receiving them warmly in your drawing rooms, but not in your government. choose colin powell as your running mate. appoint condoleza rice to state and tommy franks to defense. the nation will feel cleansed and secure.

and then there is the vision thing.


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