Could A Presidential Candidate Write This?
Nik Gvosdev shares some excerpts from a forthcoming piece in The National Interest by former Secretary of State James Baker. The money quote:
American might, however, is not limitless. The history of empires and great powers from Rome onwards provides an important lesson. power must be husbanded carefully. It is precious and finite. Spreading it too thinly can lead to disaster. Choices still matter. We must be able to differentiate between our preferences and our priorities, between what is essential to preserve U.S. national security and what is only desirable.
This is so obvious as to be axiomatic. Yet, Nik headlines the piece, “Could A Republican (or Democratic) Candidate Write This?”
Having read the foreign policy manifestos of Rudy Giuliani, John Edwards, Barack Obama, Mitt Romney, and Bill Richardson, it appears not.
All either truly believe or feel the need to promise that they can solve all the world’s problems through military power, charity spending, and good cop/bad cop diplomacy. Unfortunately, the world doesn’t work that way.
