Toward a Democratic Foreign Policy

The great danger for the foreign and defense policies of the new Clinton administration lies in the “new” folks’ widespread temptation to try to act statesmanlike by producing a high degree of bipartisan continuity with Bush’s dismal policies. Les Aspin’s desire to act “responsibly” as the secretary of defense, that is, not to offend by anything like adequate cuts in the now mostly obsolete military budget, does not augur well. Nor does the high number of appointments from well established and conventional foreign policy think tanks and defense lobbyists. This is, let us remember, a distinctly centrist Democratic administration and therefore, at least, one should be grateful that notorious hawks ...