304 SPECIALPROVIDENCEchallengefroma countrylikeChina,perhapsa newglobalfinancialcrisis
morethreateningandcatastrophicthantheeventsof1997-98,perhaps
thehorribleconsequencesofa leaptoofarintoa quagmireintheBalkans
orelsewhere.
DividedWeCoastBytheclosingmonthsoftheClintonadministration,Americanfor-
eignpolicycouldhavebeencomparedtoa car. Inthefrontseatthe
WilsonianandHamiltonianschoolsagreedthatthecarshouldgoasfast
as possible, but theydisagreed on the bestcourse. Their feet were
togetherinpressingontheaccelerator,buttheywrestledforthewheel.
Jeffersonians,meanwhile,satinthebackandexercisedtheclassicprivi-
legeofthebackseatdriver:Theycomplainedloudlyandirritatinglythat
thecarwasgoingtoofast,andthatitwastakingwrongturns.
Thethreeschoolsweresobusyfightingthatatfirstnoneofthem
noticedthattheengine-theJacksonians,whosesupportgavethecarits
real poweranddrive-werenolongerresponding.Hamiltoniansand
Wilsonianspumpedtheaccelerator,buttonoavail:Thecarcontinuedto
slow.
Thecarhadn'tstopped,though.Itstill hadmomentumfromthe
past,whentheJacksonianenginegaveitsallfortheColdWar.Whenthe
carwas headeddownhill, whentheforeignpolicygoingwaseasy, it
couldstillachievea respectablespeed.Sometimesthedriversmanagedto
tweaka responsefromtheengine,anda newburstofenergypoweredthe
caralittlefartherandfaster.
Butovertimethecarwasclearlyslowingdown.Anditwasbecoming
harderandharderfortheadministrationtogetthecartoclimbhills.
Increasingly,bothHamiltoniansandWilsonianshadtolookfortheline
ofleastresistance,thedownhillpath,whensteeringthecar,becausetak-
ing the car uphill--doing somethingdifficult, likereturning Elian
Gonzaleztohisbiologicalfatherorgettingfast-trackauthority-looked
harderandharder.
Institutionally,thestrugglebetweenglobalistsandnationaliststook
theformofa politicalstrugglebetweentheexecutiveandlegislative
branchesofthegovernment,and,tosomedegree,betweenthecivilian
andmilitarydepartmentsoftheexecutivebranch.Hamiltoniansand
Wilsoniansdominatedthecivilianofficesintheexecutivebranch.