The New Prince: Machiavelli Updated for the Twenty-First Century by Dick Morris

Drawing on his political experience with both major parties over the last thirty years, the author suggests that Machiavelli's concept of idealism, if pragmatized, is the perfect new governmental paradigm Editorial Reviews Amazon.com Review It is beyond irony for Dick Morris, the man who has done as much as anyone in the 1990s to increase cynicism in the political process and encourage politicians to play to our worst fears and instincts, to turn around and say that politicians should be more idealistic because that's what people want. Yet that's the premise of The New Prince. Morris--who rose to national prominence by telling Bill Clinton what to say to appease Democratic liberals as he shifted party policy to the right--argues that the new pragmatism in politics is to stay positive; to focus on the issues; to rise above party; and to lead through ideas.... Our candidates and office holders need to change their tactics, their focus, and their strategies--not in the interest of better government, but in order to succeed in their chosen line of work. Fewer people are voting, he says, but the ones who do are better informed, so message is more important than money now. Although he argued for early negative ads in the 1996 presidential campaign, Morris has seen the light, saying that voters have moved beyond negative ads. He also thinks Americans are sick of scandal, which is why the Republicans couldn't impeach Bill Clinton over his affair with Monica Lewinsky. Arguing that politicians have to constantly take the public temperature to govern effectively--Each day is election day in modern America--Morris justifies the constant polling that he has used as a political tactic throughout his career. So what is leadership? Morris defines it as maintaining sufficient forward momentum to control events and steer public policy without losing public support. Essentially, The New Prince is a handbook for politicians who want to get themselves elected, whether it be to the school board or the presidency, and on that level it works. But as a sage commentary on the state of politics at the end of the 20th century... heaven help us. --Linda Killian From Publishers Weekly Who better than the political guru castigated as both amoral (for his willingness to advise both Democrats and Republicans) and immoral (for his tryst with a prostitute on the eve of the 1996 election) to take up the mantle of Machiavelli? For three years, after the Republicans took control of Congress in the 1994 midterm election, Morris plotted President Clinton's political course, steering him to the middle of the political spectrum and propelling the word triangulation into the nation's vocabulary. In this sharply written book, Morris draws on 20 years of work in the political trenches to produce a candid how-to guide for politicians. In chapters like How to Raise Money and Keep Your Virtue and The Irrelevance of the Undecided Voter, Morris describes what candidates need to do to win elections and govern successfully. Morris tells politicians when they should start campaigning (Early. Very early. Today, for example), how they can win independent voters (Transcend party and appeal to the middle) and why they should ignore special-interest groups (It's good for the soul and not all that bad for winning voter support). His approach is surprisingly devoid of cynicism. Morris bases his arguments on a simple but radical premise: the American people are smart. They dislike scandal, partisanship and negativity; they want substance, not style. Lest this sound like a Dick Morris that no one has ever heard of, readers will find that he also advocates incessant polling and constant focus groups to maintain what he calls a daily majority. Such tactics are not pandering to the electorate, Morris believes: they are simply good politics. Regardless of whether readers agree with every point Morris makes, they will find him an entertaining and highly instructive guide to the mechanics of modern political life. Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. From Publishers Weekly Who better than the political guru castigated as both amoral (for his willingness to advise both Democrats and Republicans) and immoral (for his tryst with a prostitute on the eve of the 1996 election) to take up the mantle of Machiavelli? For three years, after the Republicans took control of Congress in the 1994 midterm election, Morris plotted President Clinton's political course, steering him to the middle of the political spectrum and propelling the word triangulation into the nation's vocabulary. In this sharply written book, Morris draws on 20 years of work in the political trenches to produce a candid how-to guide for politicians. In chapters like How to Raise Money and Keep Your Virtue and The Irrelevance of the Undecided Voter, Morris describes what candidates need to do to win elections and govern successfully. Morris tells politicians when they should start campaigning (Early. Very early. Today, for example), how they can win independent voters (Transcend party and appeal to the middle) and why they should ignore special-interest groups (It's good for the soul and not all that bad for winning voter support). His approach is surprisingly devoid of cynicism. Morris bases his arguments on a simple but radical premise: the American people are smart. They dislike scandal, partisanship and negativity; they want substance, not style. Lest this sound like a Dick Morris that no one has ever heard of, readers will find that he also advocates incessant polling and constant focus groups to maintain what he calls a daily majority. Such tactics are not pandering to the electorate, Morris believes: they are simply good politics. Regardless of whether readers agree with every point Morris makes, they will find him an entertaining and highly instructive guide to the mechanics of modern political life. Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. From Library Journal Morris has been a political commentator for Fox TV since resigning in disgrace as President Clinton's pollster-in-chief in 1996. He rebounds here with a credible, practical guide for political success, loosely based on Machiavelli's The Prince. Dramatic technological improvements, including interactive Internet web sites and 24-hour cable news channels, have created a new breed of well-informed voters who are too sophisticated to fall for the hype and attack journalism of recent campaigns, Morris posits. Candidates must provide issue-oriented platforms that will benefit the 40 percent of the electorate who vote independent and ultimately decide who is elected. Morris displays a maturity not found in his Clinton expos?, Behind the Oval Office (LJ 4/1/97), and despite crediting voters with more information and less apathy than they may posses, he offers a bare-knuckled, perceptive view of the political terrain that all candidates and elected officials would do well to consider. Recommended for public libraries.AKarl Helicher, Upper Merion Twp. Lib., King of Prussia, PA Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. From Booklist Unlike ordinary johns, Dick Morris has gone unarrested and unpunished for solicitation (in 1996). To the contrary, he has thrived by blabbing all he knows about President Clinton in Behind the Oval Office (1997) and on the cacophony of cable TV. Bubba is also big in this book, which must be Morris' stab at restoring his respectability, at least with the political-consulting industry. The work purports to reveal to politicos the secrets of winning an election and holding the seat, Morris' periodic salvations of Clinton's career being the repetitious referential point. Uninterested in ideas per se, Morris fixates on fundraising, polls, and advertising. He writes: Polling is the key to selecting the right issue --not conviction about an issue, but polling. He justifies this principle by rambling on about the American people's preference for pragmatic idealism, the substance of which goes unexplained in Morris' sound-bite prose, unless one considers gross poll numbers about social security as substantive. Interest limited to acolytes and advisors of politicians. Gilbert Taylor Review ...a useful and entertaining work, the very Bible of Clintonism... -- The Wall Street Journal, Harvey Mansfield ...if Morris's book is sometimes chilling, it is also often acute. Many of his micro-observations, like many of his master's micro-policies, are on the mark. -- The New York Times Book Review, Andrew Sullivan About the Author Dick Morris, who had a twenty-year relationship with President Bill Clinton, is currently under contract with FOX television as a political commentator and is often seen on other national news outlets.