Thomas Friedman gets it for at least one column, citing SAIS professor Michael Mandelbaum’s 2005 book in his closing paragraph:
Never more inward-looking, never more in demand: that?s America today. This moment recalls a point raised by the Johns Hopkins University foreign policy expert Michael Mandelbaum in his book, ?The Case for Goliath.? When it comes to the way other countries view America?s pre-eminent role in the world, he wrote, ?whatever its life span, three things can be safely predicted: they will not pay for it; they will continue to criticize it; and they will miss it when it is gone.?
Sounds a lot like Commisioner Gordon’s statement at the end of The Dark Knight: “Because he’s the hero Gotham deserves, but not the one it needs right now. So we’ll hunt him because he can take it. Because he’s not our hero. He’s a silent guardian, a watchful protector. A dark knight.”
