Dana Milbank has this
story comparing George W. Bush to Richard M. Nixon. Milbank cites Nixon historian David Greenberg, who argues that the similarities are stylistic, not ideological, Bush II being more Reaganesque in his conservatism. However, there are also some substantive overlaps noted as well, such as Nixon's and W's reliance on key advisors rather than the Cabinet.
Further, given all the comparisons--right, wrong, misleading, and insightful--between Vietnam and Iraq, this Nixon-Bush pairing may have some useful legs (and lame ones as well). At the same time, it can produce some telling contrasts. For instance: Nixon micro-managed his way into Watergate; Bush seems buffered in a Reagan-like "relaxed management style." Nixon had little use for his VP; Bush, well, seems to answer to Cheney. Nixon also had to contend with a hostile Democratic Senate and House; Bush has had two rubber stamps. Nixon went to China to meet Mao: where can Bush go--to the Afghan-Pakistan border to meet Osama or to Tehran to meet Khamenei?
But Milbank also stresses a potential problem shared by Nixon and Bush: avoiding the press. Folding the press into the mix: Nixon had Woodward and Bernstein, Bush has ...
Milbank and Frankel?