Everything Old is New Again

One of the best pieces about President's Bush's State of the Union last night begins with "Everything old is new again. In the final year of a two-term presidency, the commander-in-chief travels to the Middle East for a last, legacy-burnishing push to forge a peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians. He reaches out personally to North Korean dictator Kim Jong Il to close an elusive deal on the dismantlement of the Hermit Kingdom's nuclear weapons program.

"Archterrorist Osama bin Laden and his Qaeda henchmen continue, meanwhile, to plot attacks against the United States from sanctuaries along the Afghan-Pakistan border. At home, a familiar nemesis from a competing political dynasty is running for president, promising to seize the reins of American foreign policy and dramatically alter the country's post-Cold War course yet again.

"The eerie parallels between 2008 and 2000 ... are striking." The complete story "State of Disorder", by James Kitfield, can be found on National Journal's website.