by Patrick J. Buchanan – June 6, 1998

What are we to make of all of this? Has America become the “pitiful, helpless giant” Richard Nixon predicted it would if we allowed ourselves to be defeated in Vietnam? No. America remains the first economic and military power on Earth, but U.S. influence is in steep decline. Why?…

Seven years ago this June, George Bush stood near his apogee of public approval, 91 percent, as he reviewed, on Constitution Avenue, the returning, conquering army of Desert Storm. A magnificent moment.
America was “the world’s last superpower,” and the president grandly declared that, after our Gulf War and Cold War triumphs, creation of a “new world order” was next on America’s agenda.