Barack Obama and the Lefty Atlantic

It is nearly impossible to do anything but laugh and cry at Barack Obama's victory. All sorts of things now seem to be possible as the necessary nation has a President who is not a committed nationalist. He and the people around him are going to need partners, and not just well-wishers. If we are interested in moving the rules of the international order to make less dependent on military intervention, if we think that globalization does not entail massive concentrations of wealth and power and if we want to embed the values of the Enlightenment in that order then Europeans are going to have to start making some suggestions and offering the internationalists in the US some cover. If we rest on a critique of American imperialism we make it more difficult for political actors who want the US to avoid the pathologies of empire. This is a moment to cash in some capital in the Middle East or to broker a deal with Russia about the former soviet republics, or even to make a big effort in the Isreali/Palestinian conflict. We need to give the good guys a win, or the default position of exceptionalism backed up with preponderant military force will re-emerge. Let's help our friends.