The final scene in the movie GLADIATOR did not end with Maximus riding victoriously into Rome as a triumphant General.

FORBES: The Echo Of Eternity - Decisions Made Involving The European Debt Crisis With Eternal Consequences

Small-government conservatives fume, yet this is what Mr Obama victoriously campaigned on and, at least in the case of health care, what Americans seem to want.

ECONOMIST: Barack Obama's budget

The first was the resignation last week of Joel Klein, head of the Justice Department's antitrust division and the man who began the relentless legal pursuit of Microsoft that ended victoriously for the government in June, when Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson called for the company to be broken in two.

ECONOMIST: Microsoft gets a break

Dear peoples of Ethiopia, we are on the threshold of victoriously concluding our successful effort to restore our sovereignty by peaceful means and the use of force, and this is made possible by the determination and sacrifice of our defence forces as well as the commitment and support of our peoples.

BBC: Ethiopian president hails victories