When all is said and done — and undone — in the myriad of presidential debates, can’t Anderson Cooper, Wolf Blitzer, Tim Russert or Chris Mathews pose something like this to the candidates:
“These are, inarguably, very perilous times for America. It wouldn’t be hyperbole to say that our economy, our way of life and our lives depend on how we answer this question: ‘Where does the U.S. fit in this world, the only one we have? We can mock the U.N. for being corrupt and hypocritical; we can dismiss Olde Europe for being appeasers; we can tell ourselves that Latin America, sans a middle class, will never grow up economically; and we can see what a democratic right to vote has yielded in the authoritarian likes of Iran and the Palestinian territories. It’s tough to be right when everyone else doesn’t get it.
‘So, to reiterate, what is a realistic role for the U.S. and where do we fit in a world of dwindling oil, surging Muslim fundamentalism, increasing national security challenges, expanding global trade imperatives — and the unyielding capacity to still do a lot of good on this globe?'”