We shouldn't allow isolationism and protectionism to overwhelm us," said President Bush in his press conference on Tuesday, building on the concerns that he expressed in his State of the Union address about Americans turning inward.
Recent opinion surveys affirm that isolationist sentiment has increased in recent years. Notably, a survey by my center and the Council on Foreign Relations last fall reported that the percentage of the public who said that the United States should "mind its own business internationally and let other countries get along the best they can on their own" rose to levels seen during the mid-1970's, following the Vietnam War, and in the 1990's after the cold war ended.
View the PRC President Andrew Kohut's commentary--Speak Softly and Carry a Smaller Stick.