American Power

E.J. Dionne says he's discerned an Obama Doctrine already:

The truth is that the president is moving American foreign policy in a new direction, and conservatives dislike what is becoming the Obama Doctrine.

Obama's doctrine departs from the previous administration's approach by embracing a longer tradition of American foreign policy. Obama insists that the United States can't achieve great objectives on its own, even though it is "always harder to forge true partnerships and sturdy alliances than to act alone," as he put it this month in Strasbourg, France...

The Obama Doctrine is a form of realism unafraid to deploy American power but mindful that its use must be tempered by practical limits and a dose of self-awareness. Those are the limits that defenders of the recent past have trouble accepting.

I don't think we can draw any conclusions yet about an Obama Doctrine, much less whether someone committed to nation building in Afghanistan and Pakistan can really be said to be "tempered by practical limits."

What's interesting, however, is that Dionne focuses on power and not interests. And not even the fundamentals of power, but the rhetoric of power. The same rhetoric that conservatives implausibly claim is hastening the end of American civilization is also being held up by liberals as the dawn of a glorious new era of global strength.

Rhetoric and power are of course important but they're ultimately a means to an end. We ultimately won't know if Obama is charting a new course for America until we get a sense for how he defines America's vital interests and whether those interests diverge in any meaningful sense from his predecessor's.