Prince is a book on political theory. One theory The Prince strongly stresses, in Chapter 18, is “keeping your word.” A prince is only honored for keeping his word. Machiavelli also adds, a prince can still be honored if he gives off the illusion that he keeps his word. He states “And in the end they won out over those who founded themselves on loyalty” (C, 236). This quote simply means that perception and reputation is key to being a leader. In today’s politics it’s easy to see majority of political leaders follow this motto. In recent news, President Barack Obama followed this motto precisely. President Obama won office based off a campaign he won by his popular slogan “change.” For the last 25 months Barack Obama’s reputation and his perception is falling apart, his approval ratings are at an all time low that illustrate this notion. With the reelection counting down on his priority list, he must reinstate his willingness to keep his words, dating back to his campaign. On December 3rd he did just that, with surprising visit to the troops in Afghanistan. Once again, he reiterated his impression to start removing troops and aimed to ending foreign combat by 2014. New York Times writer Alissa Rubin states “American military forces have tripled, to 100,000, on Mr. Obama’s watch, and he has vowed to begin reducing the number of troops next July.” Publication of this story was mandatory to try to revive Obama’s perception in the United States, especially to attempt to get reelected. Machiavelli adds “Everyone sees what you appear to be, few touch what you are.” (C, 237) This quote again explains, the image you show is golden. Since only a few people personally know Mr. Obama, what he shows the majority through media is what the majority will judge him by. With the last 25 months of his presidency he expressed is lack in “keeping his word.” The loss of the house to the Republicans is directly correlated.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/04/us/politics/04prexy.html?scp=9&sq=Obama&st=cse
