Machiavellian Advice for the President

Due to the many differences and circumstances between our present-day society and the time in which Machiavelli lived, I believe that many of Machiavelli's lessons should be avoided rather than followed in order to serve our country's best interests. First of all, I would advise President Obama to not be the first to instigate a war between countries. With so many extremist political countries overseas (ex. Iran), we may find ourselves in some form of a nuclear weapons war. In addition, there is already plenty of anti-Americanism abroad due to Bush's presidential decisions involving occupation of Iraq and so forth. Why would we want to give anyone a reason to dislike America more or to think that we find ourselves superior to them? In today's society, war may not be inevitable. Second of all, I would tell Obama to not be like a "lion and a fox (at least not completely)." At times it is necessary to be aggressive and proactive, but it is not necessary to use such brute force that one is basically hated (again the invasion of Iraq comes to mind). I do understand that a soft nature can be taken advantage of, however. As far as deception is concerned, one should stay far away unless it concerns something that does not directly affect the people. There are things that are basically none of the peoples' business; however, if the President is to lie about numerous things, it will not promote any kind of trust between the people and himself. And it is important for the President, of all people, to be trusted and well-liked. Third of all, the President should try to avoid making any decisions that oppress any group of people. Machiavelli often says that a prince should choose the lesser of two evils, which makes sense if one is in such a predicament; however, he also says that a prince should pay no mind to hurting, offending, or oppressing small or poor groups of people. If the President were to do this, then our country would be flooded with chaos and rebellion. We have certain laws to protect minorities that did not exist in Machiavelli's time. So not only would Obama be involved in a serious legal issue, but he would also be looked upon as being cruel and as misrepresenting our country's true ideals. Machiavelli's advice would definitely not be the best for Obama to follow given our present situation, both foreign and domestic.