Back in their pomp
http://www.economist.com/world/na/displayStory.cfm?story_id=3749452
Mar 10th 2005 | WASHINGTON, DC
From The Economist print edition
Times are very good for America's least-loved foreign-policy makers.
But their apotheosis may not last
BILL KRISTOL tells a nice story about a chance encounter in a shopping
mall. Mr Kristol is a neo-conservative prince, the son of one of the
movement's founders, and a ubiquitous talking head on Fox News. But
even neo-conservative princes have to go shopping. One weekend found
him wandering the glitzy corridors of Tyson's Corner, in northern
Virginia. A young man accosted him and confessed that he, too, was a
neo-conservative. He then paused for a moment before adding that he
wasn't quite sure what neo-conservatism was.
This is not an isolated example of enthusiasm for the creed. The
neo-conservatives are back in their pomp after a dismal year. The
essence of neo-conservative foreign policy (to clear up the young man's
confusion) is a mixture of hawkishness and idealism: hawkishness on
projecting American power abroad, but idealism when it comes to using
that power to spread good things like freedom and democracy. The
neo-cons have no doubt that their vision has been vindicated by recent
events in the Middle East. Would democracy be stirring in the region if
Mr Bush hadn't chosen to topple the Taliban and Saddam Hussein?
"Three cheers for the Bush doctrine", says Charles Krauthammer, a
leading neo-con journalist, in Time magazine; "Neo-cons may get the
last laugh", says Max Boot in the Los Angeles Times; "Let us now
praise Paul Wolfowitz", adds David Brooks in the New York Times.
Neoconservatives
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