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I have read Mr Gelb regularly and attended some of his talks. Recently he appeared on Fareed Zakaria GPS. I caught one hint of an attitude which surprised me: he argued for asserting US power and leadership yet again. I wonder where we derive out current moral authority to take this stance. The Chinese are quietly increasing their capacity to engage us in the Pacific and in the financial markets. India and the Indian lobby may prove to be as assertive as the Israel lobby. Do we believe that we can automatically assume a leadership rolein any major endeavour taken on by the G20 for example?

Thoughtful column, Joe.

And I do get the sense that Obama is promoting “soft” and “hard” power and he’s designated Hillary to be the face of the “soft” power, working behind the scenes and gently twisting arms out of sight, which allows the folks being cajoled to have more public dignity.

Interesting read, Joe. I think redefining the limits of our power is a good first step to using it wisely. The world is indeed different and Bush has used up almost all the bravado the rest of the world can take from us.

It will be interesting to see if Barack Obama, who has pretty much gotten his way at every turn, will be able to handle that.
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Just because he comes out on top most of the time doesn’t mean things went his way. He just observes and adapts better than anyone we’ve seen in a long time.

I don’t think I disagree with Gelb’s assessment of the historical foreign policy weaknessess of Democrats and Republicans. Republicans have been rabid, and uninterested in reality. Democrats have been over-analytical and indecisive.

Of the two, in most cases, the latter is usually less dangerous, although one can think of situations where the inability to act is the worst sin.

Personally, I am hoping Obama can break the paradigm. So far, he has shown a greater predilection towards action generally than any recent Democratic president.

I guess we’ll see.

tc125231:
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Democrats have been over-analytical and indecisive.
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Can you point to a series of particular instances that would prove the existence of this supposed trend?

Towards the end of the article there is a statement “We have to tolerate a world that isn’t quite as we’d want it to be”. I can only wish that bush and a not-so-insignificant part of our population could adhere to this basic principle.

@ matt1974: “We have to tolerate….we’d want it to be”. This made me stop and think. Is Gelb unaware of the implied arrogance here? The world as we’d want it to be? No wonder Putin is pissed off.