Answers From the Archives
Ross Douthat debates Matt Yglesias on the future foreign policy coalitions in and after the Age of Obama, with particular reference to the question: whither the realists?
Ross thinks they ultimately “come home” to (or are re-grown in) the GOP because realism is the only way to productively “channel” the Jacksonian tendencies of the GOP faithful into a workable foreign policy perspective.
Good thing I recovered the lost posts! Otherwise I could never have answered by making reference to The Millman Chart – the chart that will help you distinguish between Jacksonians and the kinds of Hamiltonian realists who have migrated to the Obama camp. (Moreover, had I not recovered the lost posts, I could never have pointed out that I was debating this question back in June of 2007. Take that, professional blogging elite!)
Great chart. Do you think it captures various groups’ affinity for international institutions? I suppose internationalism is the province of the Wilsonians – are their idealist tendencies shorthand for a willingness to work with, say, the United Nations?
— Will · Dec 1, 04:37 PM · #