The conservative mayor of London pens an endorsement of Barack Obama. Not that it will sway much votes over on the other side of the pond, but it is rare for a foreign politician to inject himself into the American political process, especially in rebuking the party whose views are often aligned with those of his own.
The money quote (hat tip to Andrew Sullivan):
The legacy of George Bush may take years, if not decades, to determine.
But at present he seems to have pulled off an astonishing double whammy.
However well-intentioned it was, the catastrophic and unpopular intervention in Iraq has served in some parts of the world to discredit the very idea of western democracy.
The recent collapse of the banking system, and the humiliating resort to semi-socialist solutions, has done a great deal to discredit – in some people’s eyes – the idea of free-market capitalism.
Democracy and capitalism are the two great pillars of the American idea.
To have rocked one of those pillars may be regarded as a misfortune.
To have damaged the reputation of both, at home and abroad, is a pretty stunning achievement for an American president.
Icepicks and Nukes 