"Each Balancing the Other"

"In the past two decades, the accepted wisdom in Washington has embraced several expressions about the U.S. place in the post-Cold War world, from 'indispensable nation' and 'sole remaining superpower' to 'benign hegemony' and 'A New American Century.'
"Richard Nixon recognized the perils of such grandiose visions. For U.S. foreign policy, the key word was not 'and' but 'or,' and the key question was not 'how' but 'why.' Democrats and Republicans could do worse than reflect on Nixon’s remarks 40 years ago."

Tom Switzer in The New York Times looks back to Richard Nixon's "prediction about the end of U.S. global predominance" in July 1971.