Land of the right

Next week, weather permitting, Americans will go to the ballot to choose between an unpopular Democratic president and an uninspiring Republican challenger. The 2012 US election may have become more exciting in recent weeks — the polls indicate a tense finish — but that fundamental quandary remains. President Obama, the great liberal hope of four years ago, has disappointed. He has failed, spectacularly, to fix the American economy. His re-election campaign has been remarkable only in that he has said next to nothing about what he plans to do with four more years in power. As The Spectator went to press, however, it looked as if he would still somehow win a second term.

But conservative Americans ought not lose heart. Even if Mitt Romney does fall short of victory, the dramatic shift towards him in October is not simply proof of Obama’s failings, but of the enduring appeal of the Republican party’s values to the American people.