Speaks for itself.

Barack Obama obviously meant it as an insult when he accused New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of sounding a lot like the president during their recent dust-up over foreign policy.

The clash with the Illinois senator did indeed reveal some striking similarities between Clinton and George W. Bush. But that is arguably a compliment — at least for many Democrats who loathe Bush but envy his success in winning the presidency and wielding power.

Clinton advisers privately acknowledge the Clinton-Bush comparisons and don’t particularly mind them. The similarities are a growing list of specific tactics and, more broadly, a zeal for political combat that has marked the presidential campaigns of both politicians.

Of course, every presidential race features strategies adopted from the cycle before.

The vaunted Bush rapid-response operations from 2000 and 2004 were updated versions of another Clinton campaign’s “war room.” Candidates on both sides this cycle have studied the lessons of then-Gov. Howard Dean’s Internet strategy to raise money and mobilize voters.

But the Clinton and Bush recipes for political success share unusual overlap, starting with their basic ingredients: a highly disciplined candidate running an equally well-disciplined operation, surrounded by extremely loyal staffers who take care not to undercut their candidate with leaks to the press.

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