President Obama's critics have been dwelling since his election on fears that America is in decline -- and that Obama has embraced that decline; and so it's perhaps no surprise that Obama was a fan of a recent New Republic article dismissing that gloomy view as a myth.
What is a little surprising: The article's author, Robert Kagan, is a stalwart of the hawkish, right-leaning wing of the foreign policy establishment sometimes described as neoconservative, and he's an adviser to Mitt Romney.
BuzzFeed emailed him this morning to ask what he made of his presidential fan:
Look, he seems to agree. I think that's great. I just worry that some of the policies -- especially new defense strategy and cuts, abrupt pullout from Iraq, frequent references to "nation-building at home"-- tend toward global retrenchment. Others, like strong policy in Asia, support for Arab Spring, and continued rhetorical commitment to American leadership point in a more hopeful direction.
I strongly support Romney, yes, because I think he is the most likely to reject American decline in both word and deed.