Ok...so we've all heard the analogies between Bush and...well, let's not break Godwin's law so soon. But perhaps it's just the pinoy in me talking, but don't you think there might be a more recent, slightly more prescient parallel? Like Ferdinand Marcos? My father has maintained several times that he's seen a lot of things in Bush that he saw in the Marcos regime leading up to martial law.
(expanded below)
For example:
From the Wikipedia Marcos entry
He served as an officer in the Armed Forces of the Philippines in World War II and claimed (erroneously) to have earned the Congressional Medal of Honor, among others. Having survived the Bataan Death March, he then led a group of resistance fighters known as the "Maharlika"; however, U.S. government archives showed that he played a rather intermittent role in the guerrila warfare during the Japanese occupation from 1943 to 1945
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After failing to garner the nomination as presidential candidate of the Liberal Party, Marcos joined the Nacionalista Party and gained their nomination. Marcos and his running mate Fernando Lopez defeated the incumbent president Diosdado Macapagal and Genaro Magsaysay of the Liberal Party in a landslide victory in the 1965 presidential election. His first term in office showed a lot of promise, building on the relatively robust economy by developing the country's infrastructure and having an intensified tax collection.
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Marcos' second term was marked by increasing civil strife known as the "First Quarter Storm". After a series of bombings in Manila believed to be the handiwork of the New People's Army, the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines, Marcos warned of imminent Communist takeover and on September 21, 1972, by virtue of Proclamation No. 1081, he declared martial law. By 1973, he had assumed dictatorial control--a so-called constitutional authoritarianism along with a new constitution.
And from Encarta
Marcos served in the Philippine armed forces during World War II (1939-1945). Marcos later claimed to have been a leader of the guerrilla resistance against the Japanese occupation of the Philippines, a claim that he capitalized on throughout his political career. The United States government never challenged Marcos's account of his wartime activities while he was in power; however, U.S. Army documents made public in 1986 revealed that Marcos had fabricated his claim of being a highly decorated guerrilla leader.
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In 1959 Marcos won a seat in the Senate; he served as Senate president from 1963 to 1965. Marcos then jumped political parties to enter the 1965 presidential campaign as the Nationalist Party candidate against incumbent president Diosdado Macapagal. Marcos presented himself as the individual who could break a long pattern of corruption and inadequate leadership. He also had enthusiastic support from American president Lyndon B. Johnson and the international business community. Marcos easily won the election and was inaugurated as president on December 30.
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In 1969, after campaigning on the slogan "Rice and Roads," Marcos was reelected president with 74 percent of the vote. He was the first president of the Philippines to win a second term, which was the most allowed under the country's constitution. The races for both houses of the Philippine Congress also went highly in favor of Marcos's supporters and his Nationalist Party.
During his second term Marcos faced a host of domestic problems. Many university students and other Filipinos actively opposed the continued U.S. military presence in the Philippines and Marcos's support for U.S. policy in Vietnam. The Communist Party of the Philippines also became more active, organizing widespread unrest among the urban and rural poor. In the southern Philippine islands, a Muslim separatist movement was building momentum. And as Marcos approached the end of his second term in office, it became increasingly clear that a constitutional convention charged with drafting a new, postindependence constitution did not intend to abolish the two-term limit for the presidency. Thus, Marcos faced the prospect of having to leave office after 1973.
The convention never completed its work, however. Claiming anarchy was near, Marcos declared martial law in 1972, thereby suspending the 1935 constitution, dissolving Congress, and assuming total power. Marcos suppressed the political opposition, arresting leaders such as Benigno ("Ninoy") Aquino, Jr., and ended a long tradition of a free press. A new constitution promulgated in January 1973 gave Marcos absolute power, and elections were indefinitely postponed. Marcos ruled by decree, cloaking his dictatorial decisions in the rhetoric of law.
Hrm....lying about military achievements...'popular' leadership. Wrongheaded economic reform. Using a convenient boogieman to instill fear...sounds familiar doesn't it?
So those familiar with Marcos, what do you think?