Bill Carmichael: Come back George Bush

But if they are lucky enough to actually be elected to a position of authority, reality quickly begins to bite – and it has exceedingly sharp teeth.

In this country, it has happened recently to a succession of left-wingers who've been mugged by reality – Nick Clegg over tuition fees, Vince Cable over the budget deficit and Chris Huhne over nuclear power.

And now, with both his foreign and domestic policy in ruins, much the same appears to be happening to US President Barack Obama.

His election, two years ago, was greeted like the Second Coming – not least by the man himself, who marked his nomination by saying: "This was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal; this was the moment when we ended a war and secured our nation and restored our image as the last, best hope on Earth."

So he was going to solve global warming and usher in world peace? OK, but what is he going to do on his second day in office?

It is easy to make fun of the man's narcissism and hubris, but the truth is his folly is rooted firmly in the appeasement policies of the international Left.

According to this doctrine, the attacks on the West by Islamic extremists – from Bali, to Madrid, New York and London – were all our fault. If only we ended the wars, closed Guantanamo Bay and abandoned Israel, the terrorists might be persuaded to leave us alone.

In place of George Bush's tough "Axis of Evil", Obama extended the hand of friendship to America's international enemies. Well, how has that turned out?

Iran is emboldened, increasingly aggressive and seemingly intent on building nuclear weapons to attack Israel.

Communist North Korea meanwhile, revealed its new nuclear facility this week, before unleashing an artillery barrage on its democratic southern neighbour.

In Afghanistan, Obama's July 2011 deadline for withdrawing troops is widely seen as a disastrous error that has simply encouraged the Taliban to hold on for a few more months until the Americans quit.

And Guantanamo Bay can't be closed because – guess what? – there are some seriously bad guys in there who will start killing people again if the US lets them go.

What Obama has to understand is that our enemies hate not just the US and Britain, but the whole idea of freedom, democracy, religious tolerance and sexual and racial equality.

And the free world looks to the leader of the most powerful nation on earth to defend steadfastly those values. Increasingly it looks as though Obama isn't up to the job.

Come back George Bush – all is forgiven.

Killer's rights

When Learco Chindamo, the killer of headmaster Philip Lawrence, was released from prison in the summer, he successfully argued that to deport him to his native Italy would "infringe his human rights".

The Home Office regarded him as a "genuine risk" to the public, but Chindamo persuaded the authorities he was a changed man.

This week, it emerged he was being returned to prison after being arrested for an alleged cashpoint robbery.

In July, David Cameron was furious, saying: "The fact that the murderer of Philip Lawrence cannot be deported flies in the face of common sense. It is a glaring example of what is going wrong in our country. "

The Human Rights Act "had to go", he added. So Mr Prime Minister, what are you going to do about it?