Hat tip to Mal for pointing out this Tony Blankley article about the new book by John Lewis Gaddis, "Surprise, Security, and the American Experience," in which the author argues that Bush is "implementing only the third American grand strategy in our history." Gaddis, "not a long-time admirer of Mr. Bush," says Bush has undergone "one of the most surprising transformations of an underrated national leader since Prince Hal became Henry V." (I guess it's a day for Henry V references.)

It's not surprising that it's been a time to find new paths and purposes, in this post Cold-War age and with us still operating within an international system that's "really nothing more that[sic] a snapshot of the configuration of power that existed in 1945." I'm not sure you can fault Clinton for not recognizing the need for a new grand strategy at the time, even GWB didn't recognize it when he first took office, it took some traumatic events to change public perception enough to allow a leader to get us walking down this new path, even had he wanted to. I do think, however, that we have been fortunate to have a President who has been ready to recognize these new needs and lead us along this path that needs to be trod. For that we should feel fortunate.