Tony Blair: Part Obama, Part Bush

Tony Blair was both Britain's Barack Obama, promising change, and its George W. Bush, dragging his country into an unpopular war, Jennifer Senior writes in New York. But now the Middle East envoy and superstar Yale lecturer is his own man. He's excited about Obama's victory and urges the president-elect to "find an agenda that is capable of unifying the world."

Blair, often called "Bush's poodle" in Britain, remains unapologetic about his decision to stand by the US in Iraq. If there was a mistake, he says, "it was not understanding how deep the struggle is and how long it’s going to have to be fought." And yes, he and Bush are still pals. "I’m not a fair-weather friend." (More Tony Blair stories.)