Blair Takes a Drubbing

Tony Blair's Labor Party has been clobbered by reinvigorated Conservatives in regional elections, triggering a cabinet reshuffle and prompting renewed calls for the prime minister's resignation.

President Bush, of course, has done only modest reshuffling and won't be going anywhere should the Republicans share the same fate as Labor in the November elections, but there are apt comparisons between the British and U.S. political situation.

The Labor losses -- the worst since the 1982 Falklands War -- followed repeated scandals, political setbacks and other humiliations for Blair not unlike those suffered by Bush. Chief among these were controversies over homeland security, also a pungent issue in the U.S.

And Blair's woes opened the door for Conservative gains, although the Tories, like the Democrats, have no real message.

Hmm.