http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080705.wreckoning0405/BNStory/International/home/?pageRequested=1
LONDON — When Barack Obama lands in Europe for his
first big international tour this month, the Democratic presidential
candidate may be shocked to find himself standing in the middle of a
vast, blood-soaked plain littered with the bodies of his political
allies.
He will see left-wing parties that have reached their lowest
popularity levels in a generation and in most cases have all but slid
into non-existence. And it's getting worse. If he becomes president, by
the end of 2009 Mr. Obama almost certainly will be the only left-wing
leader remaining among the Group of Eight nations and one of only two
or three left-leaning heads of state in the Western world. Once again,
America will be going it alone.
It is a darkly ironic reversal of fortunes: At the start of the
decade, a conservative such as George W. Bush was almost alone in the
world; today, the world is being overtaken by conservative leaders —
though not necessarily, as we shall see, by their ideas. Ten years ago,
Newsweek magazine proclaimed that, "with the exception of Spain, every
major country in Western Europe is now run by a left-of-centre party,"
adding tellingly that "conservative political parties keep winning
policy debates and then losing elections." Today, almost the opposite
is true. Across Europe, the left is collapsing.
In Germany, Chancellor Angela
Fascinating how Europe's fortunes have turned for the better only after the left was driven from office.Unemployment halved in some countries and Germany surpassing even China in exports.
Ironic in a way......Bush the lone conservative for a good while,Obama,should he be elected,the lone lib of the western world.
Ray
