Is the West Once Again Conservative?

As the United States appears to be drifting to the left, it is hard not to notice the political trend in other western countries. In France, voters elected a President who ran on one of the most conservative platforms in that country's history. In Germany, the Christian Democrats lead the government, and the Italians voted back Berluscioni and awarded him the largest majority of seats since the second world war. And finally in the UK, the Conservative party consistently has a 20 point lead over New Labour. It will be interesting to see if the US (and Canada) goes against this apparent trend.