You want to know why they call it the “imperial Presidency”? Here’s why:

Every morning, Josh Bolten, the chief of staff, greets Bush with the same words: “Thank you for the privilege of serving today.”

Doesn’t that just tell you everything you’d need to know about President Bush? What kind of person willingly accepts that kind of obsequiousness on a daily basis? Maybe we should just call him Xerxes from here on out? Ironic that the man obsessed with war with Iran behaves most similarly to a Persian despot.

By way of Unqualified Offerings. The anecdote originates in Robert Draper’s Bush biography Dead Certain.