Before someone beats me to it - Hillary/Bernie/Hillary/Bernie/Hillary/Bernie. Whew, got that out of my system. 

A certain amount of artifice is required. I 've expected my politicians to be part bastard, part weasel, part idealist, part pragmatic worker bee. That's my N-S-E-W mandala.

How that might apply to Obama and his antagonists, I leave for you to think through on your own. 

The thinking about your subject cannot, in this day and time, stay as narrow as you suggest. Thinking about our current President cannot help but bring up who comes next. You did get me to thinking, mostly about guile.

For when the Serpent comes to circumvent us,
We must be Serpents too, or else repent us.

 One thing I thought was how realistically pragmatic a statement that is and I wondered if that is our fate, that it must always be this way. I also thought, as I wondered to myself, if that final line is true enough to be a campaign slogan, which candidates would it fit and are they the ones with a chance to win? And is that change, and if so, is it the sort of change that we want to believe in? Or is it just the easy answer? And then I thought:  “Everything is a source of fun. Nobody's safe, for we care for none! Life is a joke that's just begun!”  W.S. Gilbert. 

Each life is born into its own context. It lives as it will, or as it must, or as the only way it can. Let the philosophers decide how the possible scope is defined but, regardless how our life comes to be as it is, we each live with the results. And, we influence other lives and we cause results, maybe. I will probably pick the philosophical stance which lets me believe I have nothing to do with so much of what happens.

 When continuing to consider guile I got  to thinking about the Jokerman. [The ancient Hebrew name for John the Baptist is said to be "Jokanaan". Is that true? Does it mean anything significant in Dylan’s context? How would I know? But, it is Dylan so maybe]  Is childhood just the school where we learn to live happily with guile or else live on the edge? In general, I tend to believe it true that if you aren’t on the edge you are taking up too much room. Could the memoir of a successful, or at least comfortable life be titled, “How I learned to Love the Guile”? Or maybe as a song, “Livin’ and Lovin” in Double Guile Time”?

  And so, here, in honor of St. Patrick the expeller of serpents, and wishing that it wasn’t just a story, is where I will leave it for today

"Man Of Peace"

Look out your window, baby, there's a scene you'd like to catch

The band is playing "Dixie", a man got his hand outstretched

Could be the Fuehrer

Could be the local priest

You know sometimes Satan, you know he comes as a man of peace.

He got a sweet gift of gab, he got a harmonious tongue

He knows every song of love that ever has been sung

Good intentions can be evil

Both hands can be full of grease

You know that sometimes Satan comes as a man of peace.

Well, first he's in the background, and then he's in the front

Both eyes are looking like they're on a rabbit hunt

Nobody can see through him

No, not even the Chief of Police

You know that sometimes Satan comes as a man of peace.

Well, he catch you when you're hoping for a glimpse of the sun

Catch you when your troubles feel like they weigh a ton

He could be standing next to you

The person that you'd notice least

I hear that sometimes Satan comes as a man of peace.

Well, he can be fascinating, he can be dull

He can ride down Niagara Falls in the barrels of your skull

I can smell something cooking

I can tell there's going to be a feast

You know that sometimes Satan comes as a man of peace.

He's a great humanitarian, he's great philanthropist

He knows just where to touch you honey, and how you like to be kissed

He'll put both his arms around you

You can feel the tender touch of the beast

You know that sometimes Satan comes as a man of peace.

Well, the howling wolf will howl tonight, the king snake will crawl

Trees that've stood for a thousand years suddenly will fall

Wanna get married ? Do it now

Tomorrow all activity will cease

You know that sometimes Satan comes as a man of peace.

Somewhere Mama's weeping for her blue-eyed boy

She's holding them little white shoes and that little broken toy

And he's following a star

The same one them three men followed from the East

I hear that sometimes Satan comes as a man of peace.