Reports of US Decline Greatly Exaggerated

Crises of confidence, finance haven't dimmed great-power status
By Kevin Spak,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 30, 2008 11:05 AM CDT
Reports of US Decline Greatly Exaggerated
America still rules the roost, according to Robert Kagan.   (Shutterstock)

Don’t believe the “faddish declinism” of naysayers arguing that America’s best days are behind her, Robert Kagan writes in the Washington Post. Francis Fukuyama and his ilk praise Barack Obama’s “realism” in facing the “post-American world,” but in reality, Obama’s rhetoric remains perfectly optimistic, Kagan writes—a good thing, as there’s precious little evidence of this so-called decline.

Yes, the US has been hit by the economic crisis, but so has every other country. Washington may not dominate the world, but when did it ever? “Declinists imagine a mythical past when the world danced to America's tune,” writes Kagan, but in reality the US has been plagued by countless disasters since World War II, many far larger than any it now faces. (More Barack Obama stories.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X