At the inception of
the twenty-first century—not to mention the next millennium—books on
‘the American Century’ proliferate monthly, if not daily. We now
have The American Century Dictionary, The American Century
Thesaurus, and even The American Century Cookbook; perhaps the
American Century baseball cap or cologne is not far behind. With one or two
exceptions, the authors celebrate the unipolar pre-eminence and comprehensive
economic advantage that the United States now enjoys. Surveys of public opinion
show that most people agree: the American wave appears to be surging just as the
year 2000 beckons. Unemployment and inflation are both at twenty-year lows,
sending economists (who say you can't get lows for both at the same time)
back to the drawing board. The stock market roars past the magic 10,000 mark, and
the monster federal budget deficit of a decade ago miraculously metamorphoses
into a surplus that may soon reach upwards of $1 trillion. Meanwhile President
William Jefferson Clinton, not long after a humiliating impeachment, is rated in
1999 as the best of all postwar presidents in conducting foreign policy (a
dizzying ascent from eighth place in 1994), according to a nationwide poll by the
Chicago Council on Foreign Relations. This surprising result might also, of
course, bespeak inattention: when asked to name the two or three most important
foreign policy issues facing the US, fully 21 per cent of the public
couldn't think of one (they answered ‘don't know’), and a
mere seven per cent thought foreign policy issues were important to the
nation. But who cares, when all is for the best in the best of
all possible worlds?
The Obama administration’s conceptual change: Imminence and the legitimation of targeted killings