Is Europe moving right? Is the democratic left in trouble?  The decisive victory of Nicolas Sarkozy over Socialist Segolene Royal in France’s presidential elections on Sunday was the most recent example of the battering that moderate left parties are taking from the forces of globalization and discontent over immigration. ~E.J. Dionne

The battering of moderate left parties?  Was Dionne paying attention to this or any other election?  This was the best showing the French Socialists have had in ten years; the extreme left in France was the loser this year, not the “moderate” left (of course, once we have started describing Sego as a moderate, the entire conversation has become surreal).  Italy just ditched Berlusconi and friends, Spain dropped the PP like a bad habit and Angela Merkel has to govern in a “grand coalition” because she almost managed to lose to Gerhard Schroeder.  There are blips of center-right success, such as Sweden, but all across Latin America (except Mexico, barely) and Asia (see India) it is the “moderate” left that has been winning the day.  The revolt against Labour was a revolt against the incumbent, incompetent party, where England moved to the right and Scotland simply kicked the bums out.  As anyone following the Cameroons knows, a win for the Tories in the next general election will only be a slight nudge to the right for Britain.  In Canada, Liberal incumbency had worn out its welcome.  Then there is, of course, the United States.  What Dionne describes are those elections where the “moderate” left has either held power for quite a while and is finally getting replaced after having enjoyed tremendous political, if not policy, success, or where, as in France, they haven’t held power in quite a while because they have not made themselves more competitive politically.  Beginning in 1997, the recent past has been largely high times for the center-left in many parts of the world.  It is amazing that anyone could think that there is a general crisis for it brewing out there.