Why I Like Tony Blair

WASHINGTON – Tony Blair I like.The left is always lecturing us conservatives onmoderation. It would do us good, they say. If only we were moderate we might win thefall elections. Yet, we are likely to go for people like Joe Miller in Alaska and the dreadedSharron Angle in Nevada, and we are going to get clobbered, or at least not win asthumpingly as expected. For some reason, this troubles sages like E.J. Dionne and SamTanenhaus. 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 theeconomy 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: MyPolitical Life,” and I admire it. If he does not write in the most scintillating prose, at leastit is his prose. That is more than I can say of any politician on either side of the pondtoday. Says he: “I profoundly disagree with the statist, so-called Keynesian response tothe 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 newemerging and emerged powers in the world, particularly China….”In his autobiography he is for markets, for engaging the jihadists, and for thespecial relationship with America, according to excerpts from the book published in theWall Street Journal this past weekend. Reading the book in full will be illuminating. I amparticularly curious about how Blair took over one of the most dogmatic socialist partiesin Europe and made it, well, rather conservative.On the economic crisis he says the market “did not fail.” A part of it failed andthen the “sub-prime” mortgages were “spliced and diced” and sold around the worldwith 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 theyscrewed up? Well, because regulations do not always regulate. Had regulators called foraction, “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 withinIslam.” Regarding the phrase “war on terror,” “People distrusted this, partly for itsdirectness, 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 insouciancetowards the decline of the trans-Atlantic relationship, on both sides of the ocean, a littleshocking.” I guess he means insouciance among all the Western powers for concertedaction. Okay, I shall go along with this, but if it means that we who act resolutely have todally with the non-English Speaking peoples I shall do so reluctantly. The fact is that theEnglish-Speaking peoples take action. When we give a veto to the French or the Germansor 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 hisbeliefs and deserves to be taken seriously. I have yet to see a politician on either sideof the Atlantic make such a compelling case. Paul Johnson, the historian, got me a lastminute appointment to meet Blair at Number 10 while on a quick trip to London yearsago. I passed on it, as my flight was booked. Ever since I have been kicking myself. Talkabout penny wise, pound foolish.Mr. Tyrrell, editor-in-chief of the American Spectator, is a contributing editor of The New York Sun.

Why I Like Tony Blair

Why I Like Tony Blair

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