Ummm...
Kissinger is a friend, and I relied on his counsel when I served as secretary of state. He checked in with me regularly, sharing astute observations about foreign leaders and sending me written reports on his travels. Though we have often seen the world and some of our challenges quite differently, and advocated different responses now and in the past, what comes through clearly in this new book is a conviction that we, and President Obama, share: a belief in the indispensability of continued American leadership in service of a just and liberal order.
There really is no viable alternative. No other nation can bring together the necessary coalitions and provide the necessary capabilities to meet today’s complex global threats. But this leadership is not a birthright; it is a responsibility that must be assumed with determination and humility by each generation.
[...]
This isn’t just idealism. For an international order to take hold and last, Kissinger argues, it must relate “power to legitimacy.” To that end, Kissinger, the famous realist, sounds surprisingly idealistic. Even when there are tensions between our values and other objectives, America, he reminds us, succeeds by standing up for our values, not shirking them, and leads by engaging peoples and societies, the sources of legitimacy, not governments alone. If our might helps secure the balance of power that underpins the international order, our values and principles help make it acceptable and attractive to others.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/...
Well, I know who I won't be supporting in the Democratic primary now! I get that there's some degree of political calculus here -- you've got to get the the "serious thinkers" in the beltway, in the military industry, and in the media to view your foreign policy as "serious". But Kissinger went about American exceptionalism all wrong (it's possible to do it right...attacking ISIS is a good example), and led the United States' foreign policy during an era of coup-making, election-undoing, leader-assassinating madness on the world stage. And he usually failed to boot!
He's not a friend of the United States. He's not a friend of the Democratic Party. He's not a friend of what the future of our country should be.
Stop talking about the value of democracy in one sentence, and lauding Kissinger's commitment to democracy in the next. It shows a lack of understanding of democracy. And to even introduce the word "legitimacy" into the conversation? Good grief!
Best of luck in 2016 if you win the Democratic primary, Mrs Clinton. But I hope you don't, now. No more stupid wars, no more endless undemocratic wars to send "freedom" to people who choose a different path.