Speaking of magazines and cognitive dissonance, the latest cover story in the Economist is titled “Wake Europe Up!”:
“Eight wasted years. Two useless treaties. Three no votes. Ignored by China and America. But still the world’s biggest economy. Will somebody please…Wake Europe Up!”
What a Mobius loop! Liberal elites (such as those who populate the editorial rooms of magazines like the Economist and Newsweek) liked Obama as a candidate precisely because of his European worldview — the same statist worldview that long ago transformed Europe’s economy into the anemic mess that the Economist proports to offer solutions.
As Mark Steyn wrote in March:
This is the point: The nuancey boys were wrong on Obama, and the knuckledragging morons were right. There is no post-partisan centrist “grappling” with the economy, only a transformative radical willing to make Americans poorer in the cause of massive government expansion. At some point, The Economist, Messrs Brooks, Buckley & Co are going to have to acknowledge this. If they’re planning on spending the rest of his term tutting that his management style is obstructing the effective implementation of his centrist agenda, it’s going to be a long four years.
And maybe they have learned the errors of their ways, and are ready to implement the right correctives — but on the wrong continent.
Related: At Real Clear Politics, Michael Barone writes, “Unlike Obama, Americans Reject European Model.” Well, half of America, at least.
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