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Probably not. Ender knew the history of leaders--especially of the original Demosthenes. Eloquence didn't imply intelligence or deep analysis. True believers in a cause often behaved in self-defeating ways because they expected other people to see the rightness of their cause if they just stated it clearly enough. As a result, they tipped their hand in every game and couldn't understand why everyone ganged up against them.
Ender had watched the arguments unfold on the nets, watched the teams form, saw how the "moderates" led by Locke kept benefiting from Demosthenes' provocations.
And now, as Demosthenes continued to agitate in support of Ender, he was actually the one doing Ender the most damage. To everyone who feared Demosthenes' movement--which was the whole world outside America--Ender would not be a hero, he'd be a monster. Bring him home, to lead America on a nuevo-imperialista rampage? Let him become an American Alexander, Genghis Khan, Adolf Hitler, conquering the world or forcing the world to unite in brutal war against him?
Fortunately, Ender did not want to be a conqueror. So he wouldn't be hurt by missing out on the chance to try it.
Still, he'd love to have a chance to explain things to Demosthenes.
Not that the man would ever consent to be alone in a room with the killer hero.
Mazer never discussed the actual court martial with Ender, but they could talk about Graff.
"Hyrum Graff is the consummate bureaucrat," Mazer told him. "He's always thinking ten steps ahead of everyone else. It doesn't really matter what office he holds. He can use anybody--below him or above him or complete strangers who've never met him--to accomplish whatever he thinks is needful for the human race."
"I'm glad he chooses to use this power of his for good."
"I don't know that he does," said Mazer. "He uses it for what he believes is good. But I don't know that he's particularly good at knowing what 'good' is."
"In philosophy class I think we finally decided that 'good' is an infinitely recursive term--it can't be defined except in terms of itself. Good is good because it's better than bad, though why it's better to be good than bad depends on how you define good, and on and on."
"The things the modern fleet teaches to its admirals."
"You're an admiral too, and look where it got you."
"Tutor to a bratty boy who saves the human race but doesn't do his chores."
"Sometimes I wish I were bratty," said Ender. "I dream about it--about defying authority. But even when I absolutely decide to, what I can't get rid of is responsibility. People counting on me--that's what controls me."
"So you have no ambition except duty?" asked Mazer.
"And I have no duties now," said Ender. "So I envy Colonel...Mister Graff. All those plans. All that purpose. I wonder what he plans for me."
"Are you sure he does?" asked Mazer. "Plan anything for you, I mean?"
"Maybe not," said Ender. "He worked awfully hard to shape this tool. But now that it will never be needed again, maybe he can set me down and let me rust and never think of me."
"Maybe," said Mazer. "That's the thing we have to keep in mind. Graff is not...nice."
"Unless he needs to be."
"Unless he needs to seem to be," said Mazer. "He's not above lying his face off to frame things in such a way that you'll want to do what he wants you to do."
"Which is how he got you here, to be my trainer during the war?"
"Oh, yes," said Mazer, with a sigh.
"Going home now?" asked
Ender. "I know you have family."
"Great-grandchildren," said Mazer. "And great-great-grandchildren. My wife is dead and my only surviving child is gaga with senility, my grandchildren tell me. They say it lightly, because they've accepted that their father or uncle has lived a full life and he's getting really old. But how can I accept it? I don't know any of these people."
"Hero's welcome won't be enough to make up for losing fifty years, is that it?" asked Ender.
"Hero's welcome," muttered Mazer. "You know what the hero's welcome is? They're still deciding whether to charge me along with Graff. I think they probably will."
"So if they charge you along with Graff," said Ender, "then you'll be acquitted along with him."
