Opinion (Marianne Means): Mr. President, you're no Harry Truman

WASHINGTON -- President Bush has taken to talking a lot about former President Truman these days, implying that like Truman -- vilified in the 1950s for the Korean War but vindicated by history -- he, too, will grow in stature as the Iraq mess fades.

This is a political insult to Truman of epic proportions. President Bush has a lot of gall.

It registers, in fact, at about the level of Sen. Dan Quayle's comparing himself to Sen. (and later President) John F. Kennedy. That exaggeration prompted Sen. Lloyd Bentsen, Quayle's Democratic vice presidential rival in 1988, to deliver one of the most famous comebacks in politics: "I knew Jack Kennedy, Jack Kennedy was a friend of mine" Bentsen said. "Senator, you're no Jack Kennedy."

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