WEEK IN REVIEW: "Economic Puzzles: Suddenly, Europe Looks Pretty Smart," by Nelson D. Schwartz, New York Times, 19 October 2008. OP-ED: "Not Quite Ready to Dump America," by Jim Hoagland, Washington Post National Weekly Edition, 20-26 October 2008.

I write it in Great Powers: we are advantaged by having the European contrast to our "go fast/hard" model of globalization/markets—especially now. So yeah, Europe suddenly looks smarter. Question is, what do they do with this moment? Sarkozy, to me, has yet to impress. Brown, we always knew was smart. Now, he's turning out to be a real leader too. Merkel seems out of her depth: all sorts of cluck-clucking but where are the ideas? Hoagland, back from a big global meet where Medvedev argued for a dump-America stock strategy, offers this analysis:

But as I listened to the freewheeling discussions, I wondered if the widespread obituaries being written for American power and all that it stands for might not turn out to be premature. I did not hear the deep questioning of the American model of capitalism that I expected at this moment of financial terror, and Medvedev's blatant attempt to drive wedges between Europe and the United States was effectively blunted by French President Nicholas Sarkozy.

Okay, kudos to Sarkozy The end section to Hoagland's op-ed is a gem, reminding me of why he was my first great love as a columnist. Somewhat past his prime, Hoagland today is like watching Hank Aaron when he came back to the Brewers in the mid-1970s: you read for the privilege and—every once in a while—the guy swings for the fences, leaving you breathless. This is one of them, so I type the whole damn thing out on a bumpy flight:

Music to the ears of an American participant. But for me the high point was listening to three democratically elected leaders from the developing world advise their Western peers not to give up on supporting democracy and market liberalization in their countries and everywhere else. "Free elections are the only way out of crises" that would spark repression or chaos for dictatorial regimes, said Mongolian President Nambaryn Enkhbayar. His view was strongly echoed by Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga. "Trade and investment are vital to Africa's ability to work its way out of today's economic mess," said Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade. "You in the North should be truly Keynesian about this crisis. Put your billions into investments in Southern Hemisphere countries to create real assets and jobs—not financial bubbles—and you will get the best returns possible." And Saudi Arabia's Prince Turki al-Faisal—while warning that Western countries should not try to force-feed democracy to the kingdom—acknowledged that a country that refused to try any "of the dishes that democracy has to offer risks starving to death." There was, to be sure, skepticism and anger in Evian over what Sarkozy called the excesses of "financial capitalism," which routed huge pools of savings away from the productive economy into the pursuit of unrealistic returns before slamming into the ditch. But there was a solid consensus also for global oversight and regulation, not for a renunciation of the free market. Medvedev's Dump America message did not make much progress. What the world seems to await is better American leadership, not its elimination.

That, in a nutshell, is why I wrote Great Powers, after Neil Nyren at Putnam helped me see the need for that message right now.