President Barack Obama could have only hoped for modest, small-bore successes to come out of his eight-day, three-summit jaunt through Europe and the Middle East. After all, repairing the world in the wake of the Bush administration is a complicated matter. It will be a while before we know with any certainty whether Obama achieved anything of lasting value, and it may even turn out that the critics who say it was all style and no substance will be proven right. But their validation will come at a cost. The virulent reaction from conservatives has been bizarre enough to render them irrelevant in any serious conversation about the country's future.

What we've seen of Obamanomics in its beta stages is something bold, something risky and something extraordinarily expensive -- and all of this is so by necessity. We certainly hope the president's prescription will turn out to be exactly what the ailing economy needs. Of course, we'll have to wait a while for that judgment. In the meantime, the more fundamental, and troubling, question looms: Even assuming the success of president's plan, will this new sustainable economy he talks about require a reduced standard of living for Americans?