In the FT yesterday I argued that, although Washington foreign policy discussions these days are full of baseball metaphors, President-elect Barack Obama should take his lead instead from a more complex and demanding game: cricket. It seems to me the invasion of Iraq demonstrated a baseball player’s mentality. President George W Bush thought that with a single swing he could fix all the problems of the Middle East at once.
It turns out that I spoke too soon: Niall Ferguson from Harvard has reminded me that, on at least one occasion, Bush has played cricket too (see below). Mr Bush is not, of course, the only member of the coalition of the willing to try his hand at cricket.
