US war of ideas to have long-term impact

IT'S become somewhat of a cliché, but, yes, American politics is going through a major transformation. And while we're using clichés, let's add that this transformation is going to have a long-term impact on the US approach to global affairs.

Want some proof? Well, in the same week that finance ministers and central bankers from around the world were gathering in Washington - the symbol of US global military and economic supremacy, a.k.a. the American Empire - for the spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, President Barack Obama and Republicans and Democrats in Congress were engaged in two major legislative and political battles that reflected the evolving war of ideas of the early 21st century over US strategies in the Middle East and East Asia, as well as over American trade and security policies. These fights are forcing the two major political parties and their leaders - President Obama as well as the Democratic and Republican aspirants - to define their positions on those issues in a way that would have a major impact on American global policies in the coming years.

To make some sense of what's taking place now, one needs to recall that in the decade or so following the end of the Cold War, there seemed to be a bipartisan consensus in Washington over national security and trade policies. Both Republican President George H W Bush and Democratic President Bill Clinton were ardent internationalists who shared a clear commitment to maintaining US global strategic supremacy, including in the Middle East, and to leading an effort to liberalise international trade.