That's Just What I Was Thinking

"The George Bush era is reminiscent of the reign of the Roman Emperor Andronicus III (c. 1296-1341) in its negative jingoistic engagement with Islam and the Middle East (Iran-Iraq) and other expansionist achievements across the globe. Obama then is most likely to fall into the role of John V (c 1332-1391) - the successor of Andronicus III. He will have to deal with increasingly resurgent Islamic forces, Russia, China and other cultures and nations seeking an assertion of self-respect and dignity."

From a comment on the Open Source Radio website, in reference to a recent interview with historian Gordon Wood. Thousands of articles have been written, and millions of weblog entries and online comments posted, about the 2008 presidential election, but this may be the only one that has compared one of the candidates to a late-Byzantine emperor. We live in a wondrous age.

P.S.: If George W. Bush is Andronicus III, then doesn't that make Dick Cheney, the eminence grise of the Bush administration, John Kantakouzenos (and thus Obama's regent and successor)? A chilling thought.