Below, Kevin linked to an article about our new ambassador to Norway — an Obama donor named George Tsunis. He smeared Norway’s Progress party in his confirmation hearing. But the linked-to article did some smearing too, describing Progress as “anti-immigration.” It is not anti-immigration, it’s anti-Islamification and pro-assimilation. It’s liberal, in the older and truer sense: It is the Reaganite or Thatcherite party of Norway.
It’s popular, too. In 2010, I wrote a piece about them, “Among the Progs.” At the time, they were the second-largest party in Parliament. Since then, they have been elected to the government, in coalition with the Conservatives (who are the senior partner).
As it happens, I had dinner a few days ago with a friend of mine who’s a Progress parliamentarian (and who will be foreign minister one day, I hope). It’s hard to shock him: He’s an old pro, and he knows American politics better than almost all Americans. But he was shocked by our new ambassador. The only people who talk that way about Progress are Communists and pro-Communists. And the American ambassador, of course.
I used to say, in the first Obama term, “Is it 2013 yet?” Now I have no words.