The president's speech was also an exercise in deception. He claimed to have done everything in his power to avoid war. His failure to use the Europeans as mediators, or even to consult with them, went unmentioned. Americans also will be saddened to learn of the president's denigration of the attempts by the South at pre-war negotiations. In his eagerness to slay dragons, this president has plainly failed the global test.

This comparison is really silly because Lincoln was dealing with a civil war instead of one which involves most of the world one way or another. A civil war which was about the future of your single country, not of another country half way across the world. That's the issue RL was addressing .. the role of the US as world policeman. That role is anyway going to be circumscribed by the rise of China, India and Europe, so I'm not too worried about world domination by a single power. Hopefully a peaceful balance of power will arise this century where the strengths of the different powers can all contribute (a crewed Mars mission is one example), and so where the US is still active in protecting democratic freedoms internationally, but where the unilateral role which you and other HZ far-rightists probably believe in, would be balanced by the other powers' needs and opinions.

(I'm only commenting on this aspect of your piece btw ..)