Bush did an outstanding job of transforming a war against terror that instantly galvanized global support into a war for US hegemony that just as instantly galvanized global opposition. It really is stunning to consider how immense was the immense global goodwill toward America he squandered, and how quickly he did so. The consequences could well reverberate through the rest of the century, as the Mideast sees Iraq as a symbol of US neo-colonialism and the West passively accepts both nuclear proliferation and Chinese and Russian imperialism for no reason except distrust for Americas motives in opposing each. The best approach remains TRs: Speak softly and carry a big stick; unfortunately, America has forgotten how to speak softly and the rest of the West has forgotten how to carry a big stick.


It is funny, I usually compare Blair to Clinton as charismatic New (No) Left advocates, but he may have presaged Obama more than he echoed Clinton. Again, my view is from a distance, but it seemed to me Blairs fall was less due to Conservative resurgence than to Labours disillusionment and resulting disaffection. Obama faces similar problems: Great speeches but little policy change, including an almost collusive relationship with the GFCs architects, the people he was elected principally to bring to heel. And, of course, Obama is notorious for being as aloof from Congressmen and even his own aides as Romney is from the public. The end result is the wave of young and first time voters (and donors) who elected him last time have largely abandoned him as he abandoned them.


Hopefully he remains no more than that (he still has a ways to go to "out-underperform" Ambassador Kennedy in Britain,) but it frankly does not look good. As noted elsewhere, the consensus is Obama is counting on OH, WI and IA/NV/NH, and since Romney owns (via Bain) the company making Ohios voting machines that may be a disaster. 2000, 2004 and now systematic national GOP effort to make voting Democratic illegal. Back in 2000 there was an Onion article about the UN sending election watchers to monitor US elections, but "the vanguard of democracy" has been reduced to the level the UN is ACTUALLY DOING THAT now.