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My area of expertise just happens to be the early Roman Empire (specifically the use of visual propaganda), so I feel reasonably confident in discussing this issue.
Here goes nuthin'! Please don't flame me, I just keep hearing this comparisons and thinking to myself that * is way worse and would like to share a few thoughts.
1. the fiddling/guitar playing issue during disasters
That Nero "fiddled" while Rome burned is a common misperception. Nero actually played a type of lyre and sang/recited an epic poem on the fall of Troy which he was composing and used the already burning city of Rome as a naturally dramatic backdrop. So, on the one hand, it is actually a more apt comparison (both strumming), but on the other hand, I give more style points to Nero for NOT fleeing the city and for being able to compose AND sing. The guy had more flair than *
2. What happened after the fire of A.D. 68
Nero did use the Christians as a scapegoat (will * use Muslims in some twisted display of logic). He also, however, enacted major reforms of building legislation and immediate relief in the city. Some things he did included:
-requiring all merchants bringing supplies (emergency or otherwise) into the city to haul debris back out again
-refined the building code to prevent such a disaster happening again
-made continued supply of grain (food) to the city a priority during the recovery effort.
Recent work by scholars also suggests that rather than displacing poor by building his huge imperial villa-style palaces in the heart of the city he was displacing older wealthy families and opening the gardens/grounds of the palaces for the relaxation and recreation of the general public.
3. Their foci as leaders
Bush is beloved by the wealthy (equivalent to the Senatorial class in ancient Rome) for his tax breaks and cutting of benefits to the lower classes. Nero was disliked by the wealthy and beloved of the lower and middle classes for his lavish spending of both personal and state monies (really hard to separate the two) on public entertainment including festivals, games, food, the continuation of the grain dole, etc. (I'll leave aside the creative methods of capital punishment by re-enacting famous myths for now...)
4. Their mothers
Babs seems to cultivate a "who cares (beautiful mind)" attitude in her children. Nero eventually succeeded (after several unsuccessful attempts) in killing his mother Agrippina because she counseled him wisely that his lack of concerns for the upper classes would be his undoing. In other words, she told him not to put all his eggs in one, popular basket. He should have listened to his mother and didn't while * ought not to listen to his.
5. Their military posturing
Like *, Nero did have images of himself created in military garb even though he never went on a military campaign. Unlike *, Nero's grandfather was one of the most beloved generals of all time and Nero made no attempt to falsely rally troops in the field or pretend to be a soldier. In fact, his portraits in military garb usually have him wearing the cuirass (breastplate) and paludamentum (traveling cloak) of a Roman general with the boots worn by a member of the Senate. This is thought by some to indicate that he is acknowledging that his appearance in military garb is as leader of the Empire, but not as a practical soldier.
6. Their advisors
Nero should have listened to his more. *'s run the show. About an equally bad split on this.
All in all, I feel like calling * a new Nero is insulting to the emperor despite Nero's many faults. For all of Nero's bad qualities, he did focus on the lower and middle classes of society (one of his many public works was the first large-scale, public, imperial bath complexes) and he took swift action to rebuild his city as soon as the fires were all put out. I can't help wishing that Nero were around to take action and get people help after this disaster instead of *.
Thanks for letting me wander.
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