This Spengler piece that argues that President Obama's desire to retrench American power in the wake of the "misdeeds" of the Bush Administration will cause a vacuum to materialize and numerous new dangers.

In large measure, I think this is true on a wide variety of fronts.  America IS the grand stabilizer.  Even its misdeeds are relatively benign in comparison to most outcomes.   Obviously in this context, "relative" can become a loaded term as outcomes are often not "good" in the sense we might prefer and often are in an absolute sense "bad."

All that said, to look at America as the fountainhead of evil imperialism is an extremely misguided view.  As Spengler asserts,

"Obama's continuing obsession with America's supposed misdeeds - deplorable but necessary actions in time of war - is consistent with his determination to erode America's influence in the most troubled parts of the world. By removing America as a referee, he will provoke more violence than the United States ever did. We are entering a very, very dangerous period as a result."

President Obama wants to remake America to be more fair and more just, yet by piling on the debt, creating larger government bureaucracy that will only lead to sclerosis and a required retrenching from global affairs, he will create a world far more unjust.  This won't be a world of enlightened cooperation, it will be a world  where Hobbesian rules gain influence and fill the global power vacuum left by the self imposed limitation of a self interested, self absorbed, and deeply confused former superpower.

I'm all for "realism", but realism is intended to preserve one's capital for later expenditure.  Does President Obama see where things must move rather than where he thinks they should move to be "just?" 

Renewal at home, strength abroad.  That is the burden history places on America today.  President Bush did not live up to that burden in the final analysis.  I do not think President Obama will either.  So prepare yourself for the sucking sound of global power disappearing into a neo-Middle Ages of instability, chaos, and violence.

As with any moment in time, the future is not yet written, we have choices to make.  Will we as Americans make the right ones?