(no subject)

[winterbadger]

Slate: Magical History Tour: George W. Bush's last-ditch attempt to burnish his legacy.

George Bush is, IMO, a fundamentally anti-democratic leader. He would be more at home in the Roman Republic, I think, than ours.

Comments

[wcg.livejournal.com]

No, he wouldn't be welcome in the Roman Republic either. At least not before the 8 year long dictatorship of Sulla. His style is more like one of the caesars that came after Augustus in the early principate.

[sun-in-splendor.livejournal.com]

If Bush's core principal was stupidity, then I'd say he did a good job of sticking to principals.

Since GW is still relatively young, I have a very sincere hope for him.
I hope he lives a very long time, another 30 years or so. I want him to be around when the judgment of history officially declares him the WORST president in US history.

[winterbadger]

Well, I tend to think of the Republic mostly in terms of the late Republic, I admit. I think Bush would have been right at home with Pompeius Magnus and Licinius Crassus. (Oh, SWEET! From Wikipedia, "When the citizens complained about [Pompey's] methods, he replied with one of his most famous quotations: "Won't you stop citing laws to us who have our swords by our sides?" Is that Bush/Cheney to the life, or what? Crassus, of course, the richest man in Rome, engaged in a painfully impossible war in the Middle East, ignored his local allies' advice, and died there...)

Caesar...I think Bill Clinton was more Caesar's type: convince the plebs you are on their side, and then fleece them for everything you can...

[wcg.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that very late republic stuff just before the end would be a place GWB would feel at home, provided he had an army at his back. I'm not sure he has the skill to keep one there in those circumstances.