Afghanistan's Founding Fathers

Today, the citizens of Afghanistan went to the polls and experienced a relatively new sensation of voting for who they wanted representing them as President.
A couple centuries ago, Americans had the same experience. And, strangely, the four candidates running for President of Afghanistan in 2009 share some striking parallels to our own Founding Fathers.

• Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai served in the fledgling Karzai Administration, shortly after new government took charge, as Finance Minister, similar to Alexander Hamilton, who served under George Washington as Treasury Secretary. Ghani also shared the traits of being headstrong and stubborn with Hamilton, who strained relationships with colleagues John Adams and Aaron Burr. Currently, Ghani is poised to take a distant third, or even fourth, in the election, making the chances he'll actually be President similar to his political doppleganger.
  
• Abdullah Abdullah--yes, that's his name--has an eerily similar resume to Founding Father Thomas Jefferson. Beginning his career on the diplomatic front, Abdullah served in the Karzai Administration as the first Foreign Minister. Thomas Jefferson, being the great spokesman and diplomat the he was, served as the first Secretary of State under the Washington Administration. He, also like Jefferson, advocates a more federalist-style government, promising to change the government of Afganistan into a parliamentary system, rather than a tri-cameral one.
• Ramazan Bashardost was a little more difficult to parallel, but sure enough I found someone. Bashardost, the little known but well respected outsider advocating human rights, shares some striking similarities with Benjamin Franklin. Franklin was the Founding Fathers' closest thing to a human rights activist, dedicating a significant portion of his money to philanthropic causes. Additionally, until now, Bashardost, like Franklin, worked behind the scenes to fight corruption and help build a fledgling country.
• And last, but not least, we have Hamid Karzai. As nice as it would be if he was, Karzai is no George Washington. Instead, his demeanor and action more closely resemble John Adams. Make no mistake, Adams played an integral part in the formation of the United States. But while Washington was in the field commanding the troops, Adams was behind a desk doing the brain work. Similarly, Karzai spent the 1980's and 1990's fighting Soviets and the Taliban behind a desk in Peshawar, Pakistan. Both Karzai and Adams are smart people, and both had the pleasure of serving as Chief Executive of a start-up country.

Which now leaves the United States. During the American Revolution, the colonists received integral help from another country--the French. So, basically, George Bush could be likened to Louis XVI, and Gen. Tommy Franks (leader of the coalition troops) is most similar to French Gen. Lafayette.
And with that analysis, I surrender.