Tony's hat trick
Congrats to Britain's Tony Blair on winning a historic (for Labor) third term as prime minister. Tony thus rounds out the trifecta of convincing reelections that began with John Howard and George W. Bush.
Jose Maria Aznar is the exception that proves the rule, of course. Still, one wonders how history might have been different had he not panicked in the wake of the Madrid bombings and clumsily attempted to blame Basque separatists. Sadly, we'll never know.
Comments
Good for Blair, altho I wouldn't call either his win (his Parliamentary majority cut in half) or Bush's 51% win "convincing." Sometimes a win is just a win.
Thatcher and Reagan, in the midst of the Cold War and despite great and loud contempt for them at home, won convincing victories in '83 and '84.
Thank god for the Brits, though.
Posted by: fred | May 6, 2005 09:31 AM
Small, shallow point, but could you have picked a worse photo of Blair? :p
Posted by: K | May 6, 2005 10:52 AM
You'll have to excuse me, Barry: I thought he lost! Heck, that was basically the thrust all over the MMM, wasn't it?
Silly me!
Posted by: mal | May 10, 2005 12:13 PM