WASHINGTON – Tony Blair I like.

The left is always lecturing us conservatives on
moderation. It would do us good, they say. If only we were moderate we might win the
fall elections. Yet, we are likely to go for people like Joe Miller in Alaska and the dreaded
Sharron Angle in Nevada, and we are going to get clobbered, or at least not win as
thumpingly as expected. For some reason, this troubles sages like E.J. Dionne and Sam
Tanenhaus. I sense they cry to crocodile tears, but maybe I have misperceived them.
Maybe they really wish us the best. Is it another manifestation of the Liberal Death Wish?
As the Liberals approach the Islamofascists they clearly have it, and as they approach the
economy a death wish is all I see. Maybe they have it with conservatism too.
So take heart E. J. and Sam. I like Tony. Do you? Is he centrist enough?

He has summed up his world-view in his new autobiography, “A Journey: My
Political Life,” and I admire it. If he does not write in the most scintillating prose, at least
it is his prose. That is more than I can say of any politician on either side of the pond
today. Says he: “I profoundly disagree with the statist, so-called Keynesian response to
the economic crisis; I believe we should be projecting strength and determination abroad,
not weakness and uncertainty; I think now is the moment for more government reform,
not less; and I am convinced we have a huge opportunity for engagement with the new
emerging and emerged powers in the world, particularly China….”

In his autobiography he is for markets, for engaging the jihadists, and for the
special relationship with America, according to excerpts from the book published in the
Wall Street Journal this past weekend. Reading the book in full will be illuminating. I am
particularly curious about how Blair took over one of the most dogmatic socialist parties
in Europe and made it, well, rather conservative.

On the economic crisis he says the market “did not fail.” A part of it failed and
then the “sub-prime” mortgages were “spliced and diced” and sold around the world
with no sense of “the underlying risk or value….” He says that “government also failed.
Regulations failed. Politicians failed. Monetary policy failed. Debt became too cheap.”
So why are Barney Frank and Christopher Dodd still at work in the very areas they
screwed up? Well, because regulations do not always regulate. Had regulators called for
action, “We would have acted. But they didn’t say that.”

Blair extends his comments to Islam, where he argues there is a strain of violence.
The West can respond to it, but “it can only be actually eliminated by those within
Islam.” Regarding the phrase “war on terror,” “People distrusted this, partly for its
directness, partly because it seemed too limited….Yet if what we are fighting is not a war,
what is it?” Here, here, Tony.

Finally, my new best friend — at least among pols — adds, “I find the insouciance
towards the decline of the trans-Atlantic relationship, on both sides of the ocean, a little
shocking.” I guess he means insouciance among all the Western powers for concerted
action. Okay, I shall go along with this, but if it means that we who act resolutely have to
dally with the non-English Speaking peoples I shall do so reluctantly. The fact is that the
English-Speaking peoples take action. When we give a veto to the French or the Germans
or the Russians there is always the danger that they will put profits for their industries an for their corrupt politicians before strategic considerations. We saw this in the Oil-for-Food scam, and we shall be hearing more in the months ahead.

For now, let us give Tony Blair a careful hearing. He risked a great deal for his
beliefs and deserves to be taken seriously. I have yet to see a politician on either side
of the Atlantic make such a compelling case. Paul Johnson, the historian, got me a last
minute appointment to meet Blair at Number 10 while on a quick trip to London years
ago. I passed on it, as my flight was booked. Ever since I have been kicking myself. Talk
about penny wise, pound foolish.

Mr. Tyrrell, editor-in-chief of the American Spectator, is a contributing editor of The New York Sun.