The Iraq War's Effect on American Political Culture

There is irony surrounding conservative laments about isolationism like David Brooks’ column (not free) in the Dec. 1st NYT. For years, many conservatives fought against Clinton intervening in the Balkans, or really any intervention, humanitarian or otherwise. But now, through their own overseas adventure, conservatives have finally managed to convince the American public of what they have been saying all along: that messy nation-building can go not-so-well.

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The real tragedy is that those neo-conservatives who seem so concerned about having enough political will to extend US military power into the world in order to “spread freedom” and do lots of generally good things is not strong enough to, for example, make any kind of effort other than glancing, wistful references to help stop the Darfur genocide-in-progress. American power can be a force of tremendous progress, security and liberalization, but only when its targets are chosen carefully, and the goals that are set are reached quickly and effectively. Essentially, Americans remain confident when they see competence everywhere they look. I know, I know, it's purely a hypothetical.