Empire? Or "Special"? Foreign Policy

Dreher points to Rieff (a Lefty), but agrees--as do the paleocons.

But if one looks at the current American foreign policy debate without the expectation that Democrats and Republicans will agree on just about everything, what seems remarkable is the extent to which they do, in fact, agree on just about everything. ...But for the most part, from Barack Obama to--dare one say it?--Richard Cheney, the argument goes undisputed that the world "needs" (that extraordinarily loaded word being the one most commonly employed) American leadership and that, for its part, the U.S. has a "special" (also a loaded word) role to play on the international scene

Dreher:

As Rieff continues in the piece, written while the Democratic primaries were still ongoing, both US liberals and US conservatives place their faith in "the theology of American Exceptionalism"

"American Exceptionalism" happens to be a favorite soubriquet of Rush Limbaugh, and it derives specifically from the Whig practical-theology which underlies it. It's an expansion of the "Government Will Fix It All" theology which Bush bought with (e.g.) "No Child Left Behind."

Except here, it's "No Child Left Behind Anywhere On The Planet."

Thus both Obama and McCain will support the entry of Georgia and Ukraine into NATO, where the treaty-obligation requires that NATO will send arms and men to defent those countries from attack.

Writing checks which MAY not be negotiable.