A realist rally.

• Author: Gelb, Leslie H.

NOW IS the moment to forge a new, broader, politically potent coalition of realists to shape U.S. foreign policy, if the high priests of the realist camp would only grasp it.

The two main alternatives to traditional realism for half a century have now discredited themselves. The Clinton administration--fixated on domestic politics and overawed by the curative powers of globalization--squandered American power. The Bush administration--blind to the limitations of military force and carried away by the idea of democratizing heathens--plunged America into its deepest international hole ever.

The first step toward a new coalition is for the keepers of the realist flame--such as James Baker, Henry Kissinger, Brent Scowcroft and Lawrence Eagleburger--to stop searching for partners in the wrong places. Time and again, they turn to their fellow Republicans, especially the conservatives on the right, only to rediscover that the right-wingers are latent isolationists with dogmatic slants on good-and-evil in the world. There is no way that realists can share a harness with those who reject the necessity for engagement and diplomacy with adversaries. Traditional realists also foolishly keep trying to bond with neoconservatives, only to relearn that neocons treat them almost as poorly as they treat liberals. No one can build working arrangements with those whose foreign policy boils down to staying every course, exerting will power and waiting for the world to bend to Washington's wishes.

Second, and after facing up to whom their friends can't be, traditional realists have to open their eyes to their natural allies--the Truman-Acheson Democrats. These are Democrats who think we do face real threats, and that these threats must be countered with American power, allies and partners, diplomacy, and sometimes military force. And these are also the basic principles of traditional realists. Where they differ, the Democrats bring strength to the table: They believe in pursuing American values abroad, but over time and consistent with power realities. The traditional realists need credibility on just this front because most Americans believe they slight American values.

Contrary to what some traditional realists believe, there is a vibrant stable of Truman-Acheson Democrats. I'm thinking here of Joseph Biden, Richard Holbrooke, Michele Flournoy, Sam Nunn, William Perry, Joseph Nye, John Hamre and a slew of pragmatic foreign policy Democrats in their thirties...