HARD TO RIDE THE UNICORN WHEN EVENTS ARE RIDING YOU:

From war woes to Gulf disasters, Obama's presidency mirrors Bush's (Kara Rowland, July 5, 2010, Washington Times)

A difficult war, runaway federal spending, a dilemma over illegal immigration and even the aftermath of an environmental disaster - President Obama's 2010 is looking a lot like President George W. Bush's 2006.

And in many of those cases, Mr. Obama is turning to similar solutions as his predecessor: a surge of troops overseen by the same commander, Gen. David H. Petraeus; a modified line-item veto proposal; and deployment of National Guard troops to the U.S.-Mexico border to soften opposition before a broad push for an immigration bill.

That the challenges are similar is not surprising. By definition, they are the unfinished business of the Bush administration, and in some cases had been languishing for decades longer. But for a man who ran on being the anti-Bush, Mr. Obama is realizing that breaking with a previous administration's policies is easier said than done.