America’s enemies understand our vulnerabilities and they long for a world in which the U.S. retreats from the world stage under duress. They seek the restoration of a status quo defined by impenetrable spheres of influence in which they could have a free hand. They hope to gradually degrade the West so that prohibitive American might no longer deters the aggression they plan. Americans can pretend that the threats to our nation’s power are unique and disconnected, but the would-be executors of those threats are not operating under the same misapprehension.

These are serious times. They demand serious leadership. The United States is not a weak nation or a country in decline. It can meet these challenges. But the success of the West and its allies and the preservation of a world that is safe for liberty and democracy are not preordained. So long as Americans preoccupy themselves with petty domestic politics and delude themselves into believing that America’s foremost enemy is the other party, we will not meet the measure of this portentous moment.

[Noah gets to the same point I made in my VIP column earlier today. The world is a dangerous place, and our unseriousness makes it even more dangerous. – Ed]