Liberals And The Empire

A reader writes:

I think you downplay the important role that liberal interventionists have played in fostering an imperial America. Remember that the prudence demonstrated by Bush 41, who refused to dance on the Berlin Wall, was repudiated by Clinton, who pushed NATO expansion down Russia's throat even though the entire rationale for NATO had vanished. It was Clinton that established the self-evidently hypocritical precedent that America has the right to define its interests in Russia's near-abroad (i.e. Kosovo) but that Russia had no similar entitlement if it contradicted America's wishes.

In other words, liberals got the ball rolling here. I'd also note that Obama has not only NOT repudiated this, he has echoed McCain's call for Georgia in NATO. He is in no way offering a rebuke of the imperial status quo. He is affirming it.

Yes, he is.