Today’s notes focus on the Turkish prime minister (Erdogan), our own (?) Bill Clinton, Tony Blair, Bill Gates, and other fun-lovers. There are more fun-lovers to come. I will tell you about Bill Clinton’s vice president, for example. On a panel this morning, Al Gore discoursed on global warming. Thomas L. Friedman of the New York Times, sitting in the moderator’s chair, said, “Al, you and I are preaching to the converted — but why is it such a hard sell with the party of business in America, namely the Republican party?”

The “it” that is a hard sell to us Republicans is the anti-global-warming program that Gore, Friedman, et al. have in mind. In answer, Gore talked about the “collection of constituencies” that make up the GOP, which includes old-style companies that “until very recently were digging in their heels, and shamefully funding deniers, and trying to interrupt a consensus that says reality is reality.”

Well, nothing immodest about that, huh? Excuse the attempt to “interrupt a consensus” — some call it democracy. Also, note that insidious use of the word “deniers,” making those who aren’t aboard the global-warming bandwagon parallel to Holocaust deniers.

In addition, Gore said that “only the Scandinavian countries and a few provinces in Canada” have done what is necessary on global warming. Is America ready to be like Scandinavia and a few provinces in Canada? It may well be.

A brief word about Angela Merkel, if you will: I was interested to hear, just now, that she refers to those who ruled her country from 1933 to 1945 as “the National Socialists.” When I do that in Impromptus — which is infrequent — I always get nasty mail from lefties, saying, “What are you trying to imply, Nordlinger?” Well, just calling a spade a spade, historically. It’s nice that the German chancellor is accuracy-minded too.

Finally, a prevalent theme of the Davos meeting this year is: Obama, good; Bush, bad. Obama, savior; Bush, destroyer. I just saw Howard Dean in a hallway: He must feel completely at home. (Come to think of it, Vermont is for skiers, just as Davos is!)

There is a film that is played over and over — certainly before sessions that focus on America. The film shows young people from all over the world, praising Obama in the most extravagant ways. It is like a cult, or fever. And the film is propagandistic, frankly — a little creepy. I am pretty slow to use the word “Orwellian,” just as I am slow with Third Reich parallels. But I must say, the word has come to mind.

Don’t let me grouse too much, however — the Davos experience is remarkable, and, in a way, enlightening, and I will have much more for you next week.