Barack Obama’s greatest fear may be that his presidency will be overcome by war, not the economy. It’s taken for granted that Obama will preside over far reaching social reform. His address to Congress last week was received as a philosophical shot across the bow of Washington. Ronald Reagan’s conservative covenant is now to be reversed by Obama. Liberalism is on the march. That may all come to pass. But history reveals that war tends to bankrupt the ambitions of reformers.
