Everybody ought to have an aide, someone who can help when you need support. Certainly, political leaders must depend on advisors who are able to discern accurately, or pretend to know, what's going on, and speak truth to power. Throughout history, all countries have had figures of this kind. France had Cardinal Richelieu for King Louis XIII and Cardinal Mazarin for Louis XIV, not to mention Mme. Pompadour on the ballroom floor with Louis XV, and Mme. Du Barry, the toast of Paris. British prime minister Harold Wilson had a Kitchen Cabinet, and consultant Alastair Campbell served for Tony Blair. In American politics the list is legendary. Among others in the last century are Louis Howe for FDR, Clark Clifford for Harry Truman, Ted Sorenson for JFK, Henry Kissinger for Richard Nixon, and Dick Cheney for George W. Bush. Yet sometimes the choice of those advisors, past and present, is curious. Emperor Caligula is alleged to have made his favorite horse Incitatus a...(Read Full Article)