While losing Prime Minister John Howard of Australia was quite a blow for the W regime, he made up nicely in South Korea, with the election of Grand National candidate, Lee Myung-Bak, for president. In fact, W was so elated, that he was pretty much the first foreigner to call Lee to offer congratulations.
While Lee has had a stellar record of achievements both at Hyundai and as the mayor of Seoul, his party - a puppet of the Republicans, and one that provided Reverend Moon to the US - is suspect at best. What's even more notable is that the leftists were so badly splintered and disorganized, they never had much to offer to the South Korean voters (except mudslinging in a possible scandal for Lee).
I also draw many parallels to the French election earlier in the year, with center-right candidate (Sarkozy in France, Lee in South Korea) promising to cut unemployment for younger people, the leftist candidate (Royal in France, Chung in South Korea) not giving much of a challenge, and the strong showing of a far-right fascist candidate (Le Pen in France, Lee Hoi-Chang in South Korea).
The disorganization of the left is evident in the US and its Democratic Party as well, despite the Democrats holding better hands right now. The Democrats, if they are to continue to exist at all, must learn from both the success of Labor and Kevin Rudd in Australia, and the failure of the French Socialists and the South Korean left. But given that the Democrats are too busy screwing over their base, and too busy sucking up to unelectable Hillary, I won't hold my breath.
