Rustico,
What exactly was crap about what Krauthammer wrote?
Besides you didn’t like it?
I appreciate the fact you seem to be non-partisan with the comments you followed with but, I do wonder.

“I just don’t accept the debate ultimately boiling down to this idea that we were somehow thrust into this role of the most legitmate and necessary world power innocently and are simply doing what we have to as the lesser of evils including torture”

Well with a statement like that, there is no need to debate anything, you preempt the use of a critical point as the United States isolationist policies at this time were coming to an end.
Open a beer and ponder they way things would be if the U.S. didn’t fill or attempt to fill that void.

Firstly, make a list of how many other nations have attempted to help others the way the U.S. has. Keep it simple. Are the results of the U.S.’s financial, industrial etc. aid to other countries equal to the amounts of/results from aid to those (countries) that turned (willfully or not) to the former Soviet Union or China? Two nations that define the term hegemonic?

Is it willful blindness or just laziness? If you follow even the “MSM” there’s notice of rising Nationalism (for the sake of brevity I am narrowing it down to one term) throughout many countries in the world, even in Europe.

I don’t see that taking place in the U.S. indeed, we are well on our way to surrendering our sovereignty, leaning toward consideraton of outside governments and their laws in our affairs (gotta be a good “term” to sum that up, someone, please help with that).

As for this election and past, I am tired of having to choose between the lesser of two evils. I don’t care for either candidate. Whle I have a little more “faith” in McCain than Obama it’s not much.