Americana columns

Observing American politics these days is a bit like watching an old family friend go through a mid-life identity crisis: he’s dumped his wife for a pole-dancer, become a Buddhist, and got himself a tattoo and a ponytail.

This week life imitated art when President George W. Bush dodged shoes hurled at him by an Iraqi journalist.

As a UK newspaper put it, her rise from small-town girl to global icon demonstrates “the endless possibilities of the American Dream.”