A Good News Day

Things are looking good, in world terms, for the right today. In British local elections, the Tories outpolled Labour 41 to 27%. Majority government territory. In France, Nicholas Sarkozy is maintaining a 6 to 9 % lead over Segoline Royal, on the eve of the final balloting. If these two dominos both fall soon, it will make a big difference, in world terms. (Granted, France is already nominally in the right-wing column under Chirac, but Sarkozy represents a sea change to something much closer to the Anglo-British right.) First, the “Anglosphere” will be almost solid blue: the US, UK, Canada, Australia (little New Zealand being the holdout). And the three largest members of the EU will also be blue: England, France, and Germany—with Prodi’s government in Italy looking shaky, and the new members from Eastern Europe reliably free-market. The American neo-con "disease" is spreading. We may be nearing the end of the left as we know it.

While much is made of the supposed malaise within the US Republican party, the two most likely nominees—Giuliani and McCain—still outpoll any available Democratic candidate. Some complain of a weak field. I don’t know what they’re talking about, unless it's wishful thinking. I've never seen a stronger one. Just consider this: Mike Huckabee has essentially the same credentials Bill Clinton had in 1992. He is a popular ex-governor of Arkansas. Clinton was the early frontrunner and eventual nominee. Even with the help of Clinton’s example, Brownback is lost in the pack. The rest of the field is that much stronger.

Among the three frontrunners, Romney, Guiliani, and McCain, I think any of them has the makings, at this vantage point, of an exceptional, a historic presidency. I'd add Fred Thompson to that list. If any one of the four becomes US president, and in the new atmosphere changing political fortunes elsewhere seem to promise, I expect the world will never be the same again.