THE RIGHT’S OPPORTUNITY

I think Anatole Kaletsky is too gloomy about president Bush, but his essay in today’s Times is a stimulating and provocative prediction of a conservative revival, at least in Europe. Oddly enough, the euro may well be a spur to a revived and robust nationalism in France, Germany and Italy. Kaletsky’s sharpest observation: “The cultural dominance of the baby-boom generation is creating a libertarian anti-Establishment, anti-authority bias among all advanced countries’ voters – and at present the meddling, interfering, over-regulating Establishment is identified in most European countries with the Left.” One thing is clear. Like Clintonism, Europe’s Third Way has vanished like the morning mist, leaving barely a trace behind.