Means and Ends (Joshua Cohen & Glenn Loury)

[sapeye]

Originally Posted by Diane1976

But maybe he will make people question the opposite extreme which is the idea of the US dominating everything and everybody and, in a different sense, abandonning the world order it created, for an "imperium".

I think Obama's on the right track, a middle road, in spite of all his lack of experience, which showed, and his difficulties.

I agree that the US needs to be involved in creating international institutions that can constrain everyone's behaviour. The problem is that the US exempts itself from such constraints. In a way it's like the mafia keeping order in the neighborhood. Better than chaos, but if you happen to be paying them protection money to survive, not a whole lot better. Obama has great rhetoric, but his actual behaviour doesn't seem much different from Bush's. He continues to expand the American empire.