King John

The BBC has an interesting article on the legacy of wicked King John, in which one of the contributors points out his similarities with Obama, in that each inherited a difficult situation, then promptly proceeded to make things worse by completely failing to understand how politics works. They quote Churchill too: "When the long tally is added, it will be seen that the British nation and the English-speaking world owe far more to the vices of John than to the labours of virtuous sovereigns; for it was through the union of many forces against him that the most famous milestone of our rights and freedom was in fact set up." I kind of wonder if this will be another parallel - Obama bids fair to be the President who brings about the destruction of the Welfare State, not despite his best efforts, but because of them.