A Big Left Turn?

Eleanor Clift speculates that this might be the "year of the liberal" -- when left wing ideas might finally be viable for The White House.

Could be -- but it would be foolish for Republicans not to welcome dominance by the left, at least in the presidential primaries. That's because with Americans preferring a generic Democrat for President over a Republican -- 52% to 31% -- Republicans' hopes of winning will have to rely on a match-up between individual candidates. Republicans have some strong candidates -- Romney and Giuliani in particular -- and the farther left the opposition is, the better a chance they have.

Where Clift is wrong is in citing the "collapse of the conservative agenda." In fact, the agenda hasn't collapsed -- in truth, it's been abandoned when it comes to border security and spending, and hasn't been tried when it comes to social security reform, and has worked brilliantly when it comes to tax cuts. In contrast, everywhere the liberal agenda has been implemented -- from national health care in Britain to a weak, accomodationalist foreign policy a la Jimmy Carter -- it has been a manifest failure.