In the long run we're all Churchill

It's no secret that George W. Bush fancies himself as the 21st century's Randolph Winston Churchill and further hints were dropped in his response to inevitable "what books are you reading?" questions in interviews recently; remember that Bush is in a race with Karl Rove to see who can read the most books this year.

He told both ABC News and a group of conservative commentators that he's reading A History of the English-Speaking Peoples since 1900, which as John Derbyshire pointed out at The Corner is (1) not the Churchill book of almost the same name (2) not on sale in the US yet but (3) clearly intended as a sequel to Churchill's book. One of the aforementioned commentators who got the sit-down with Bush, Michael Barone, piles on the flattery:

[Andrew] Roberts's English-Speaking Peoples is an extension of Churchill's multicentury history that ends around 1900, and I expect that it will take Churchill's view: that the English-speaking peoples have over the centuries taken up the responsibility of expanding freedom and spreading democracy and the rule of law around the world.

That is Bush's view as well, as I was reminded when I noticed the bust of Churchill as I was leaving the Oval Office.

Note the combination of Barone's gloss over the history of colonialism with Bush's much more alarming view that a hypothetical perspective of him 50 years down the road exempts him from thinking about the costs of his policies today.