So let's step back
And use our mighty powers of hindsight.

Tony Blair and George Bush were the Warren G. Hardings of our generation - placed in positions of power by those who trusted them to convey an appropriate message and, above all, protect their interests.

Granted the translation does'nt quite work because Coolidge was a relatively honest man and we don't have a contemporary Coolidge but by the time of his presidency the damage was done - despite the show trials of the Teapot Dome the senate was in the hands of the industrialists.

I half suspect that Calvin Coolidge understood that he was fighting a loosing battle and was happy to give way to Hoover - certainly the latter half of Coolidge's presidency was particularly lacklustre and saw the beginnings of what we now call McCarthyism - the assumption that leftist forces were insinuating their way into the US economy.

If you want early 20th century US politics I could go on all night - it's one of my passions - but the parallels are there to see.

I'm not a conspiracy theorist or similar but I have been regarding the Blair years in direct comparison to Harding for some time.
( The Disappointed Caravanner of the year, Mon 23 Feb 2009, 19:08, Reply)