The Past and Future of American Grand Strategy [Bush critic gets it]

Chapomatic and Ten O'Clock Scholar ^ | May 16, 2005 | Professor John Gaddis

[MeekOneGOP]

The Past and Future of American Grand Strategy
[Bush critic gets it]

Please let me know if you want ON or OFF my General Interest ping list!. . .don't be shy.

[Weirdad]

Tolik, that's one of the best and most interesting articles I have read here in quite a while, and it's even more valuable to me because it is one I never would have found on my own. Thanks a lot for posting it. I am kind of pumped up by it, and hope it gets a lot wider exposure.

[Tolik]

They already wrote down the history as they imagine it, why bother with the reality?!

[Tolik]

Ditto here, and the pleasure is all mine.

:^)

[Tolik]

Hopefully so.

I followed some links from one site to another. So they are exposing it, and we might help.

[speekinout]

Third, grand strategy requires the ability to respond rapidly to the unexpected. It acknowledges that trends can reverse themselves suddenly, that “tipping points” can occur, and that leaders must know how to exploit them.

This is, IMO, an important point. So far I think that the Bush Admin. has dealt with the major "tipping points" fairly well. The election in Iraq, the death of Arafat, the media hype over Abu Graib; etc.
His use of the word "exploit" in this excerpt makes it look like the "tipping points" will always be favorable, but some, like Abu Graib, are not, and limiting damage from the unfavorable ones is just as important as exploiting the favorable ones.

[Chode]

he has seen the light... and the truth shall set you free!!!

[stradivarius]

ping to read later

[lainde]

bttt

[mountaineer]

bump

[RhoTheta]

Thanks so much for bringing this article to our attention. I found it so refreshingly clear that I downloaded the 2nd Inaugural Address and this and put both on my family's private forum for study.

My 85-year-old father-in-law has been pretty much a Koolaid-drinking Democrat, but is coming around thanks to exposure to Fox news. He has gradually stopped referring to Bush as an un-educated idiot, and begun to embrace the idea that Bush is our president and to see the Democrat tirades as the garbage that they are. I gave him this article to read, and he was very impressed by it -- wanted to read it over again to glean more detail.

We went to Barnes & Noble last night and put Surprise, Security, and the American Experience on order.

Thanks, again!

[krunkygirl]

Thanks for posting...I enjoyed it...I guess there is still hope for those on the other side...

[PhilipFreneau]

But where, within the academy is the use of great language taught? Where would you go to learn how to make a great speech? Certainly not to political science, language, and literature departments at Yale, where as students advance they are spurred on toward ever higher levels of jargon-laden incomprehensibility.

Righteous!

[Alia]

I just rec'd a link to this very FR link, by email!!

Brilliant speech. So sharp, no doubts many liberal nay-sayers walked out of there not even seeing the blood spurting from their backs from the non-stop stilleto-ness of the speech.

Please add me to your ping list of "non-specific" authors. Thank you.

[Amntn]

Bump for reading later.

[Angel]

Wow, I'm so glad I'm on your ping list! What a great article. I especially liked So let me try to answer this question – why the academy finds leaders like Reagan and Bush so difficult to understand – somewhat in the spirit of Larry Summers, by tossing out a few provocations. . . . . .

.It explains a lot about leaders and why their are so many more followers than leaders in society.

[Tolik]

Added to the list. Thanks.

I am happy that Prof. Gaddis speech makes rounds. Prof and his speech well deserved it.