Epiphany in the Oval Office-I

[This is a very short version of a chapter written in the year 2000 for a never-to-be-published book entitled Democracy for Dummies. The book was described in a blog post on may 10, 2016. This chapter provides a recreation of an  Oval Office conversation in the wee hours between a President unable to sleep, and an adviser called out of bed to serve as a sounding board.]

Mr. President, it's me Dave.

Come in Dave. Sit here by the desk.

The room is dimly lit. There is only one small lamp on the President's desk, which is bathed in an orb of soft golden light. The kind of ethereal light they use in the movies when they are trying to say something spiritual and deep. It made Dave feel both special and creepy.

Glad to be of help, sir.

I have been sitting here thinking about my talk to the UN when I looked at the world globe next to my desk. It's a great piece of work and makes you appreciate what a big place the world is. Anyway, it suddenly dawned on me how unique the U.S. is in the big scheme of things. There are almost 200 nations on that globe and the U.S. is the only one that is isolated with a body of water on the left and the right.

You're right sir, but what about England and Japan. They are even more surrounded by water and we have Canada and Mexico real close by.

Good point Dave. I hardly ever think of them as foreign countries. That's why I seek your advice; a keen mind and you don't pull punches. That's what we need in the Oval Office. Anyway, what struck me about the location of the U.S. on the globe is that our isolation by two large bodies of water is probably the reason why we are able to be so objective in our analysis of world problems. We don't see things in terms of how it might threaten us, like the English, or the Russians, or the Chinese.

Bur sir, aren't we worried about the North Korean missile threat and Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction.

Just between you and me Dave, that kind of stuff is more for public consumption. Not something for us to take too seriously. But back to our place on the globe. That can't be some kind of accident. Somebody or some great force put this country where it is because of a plan to make us responsible for the rest of the globe. Don't you see! Germany couldn't become the responsible nation because of where they are located. Who would believe them. And another thing, we probably have people from all 200 nations in the world living in our country.

You better believe it, Mr. President. They're probably all here in the District. If you took cabs as much as I do you would see all 200.

Good point Dave. A good human interest hook to work into my talk. Maybe we should get a couple of cabbies in the gallery at the U.N. and I could ask them to stand up when I make the point about the U.S. really being made up of pieces of the rest of the world. Make a note; remind me to come back to that.

Yes sir.

You can see I'm reaching for some thing big. You know, something about the special mission of the U.S. in the world. A mission that's not related to politics. It's a mission defined by nature and geography. We can't ignore it even if we wanted to. We are forced to take charge and we have no choice in the matter. The hyena doesn't choose to prey on the weakest deer and the vulture doesn't choose to feed on the carcasses of dead animals.

Yes sir, but I'm not sure that is the right image you want to use.                   (to be continued)