When I look at America from…[Taipei, Taiwan], I worry. China is now our main economic partner and competitor. Sure, China has big problems. Nevertheless, I hope Americans see China\u2019s rise as the 21st-century equivalent of Russia launching the Sputnik satellite \u201d\u201d a challenge to which we responded with a huge national effort that revived our education, infrastructure and science and propelled us for 50 years. Unfortunately, the Cheneyites want to make fighting Al Qaeda our Sputnik. Others want us to worry about some loopy remark Senator Harry Reid made about the shade of Obama\u2019s skin.<\/p>\n
Well, what is our national project going to be? Racing China, chasing Al Qaeda or parsing Harry? Of course, to a degree, we need to both race China and confront Al Qaeda \u201d\u201d but which will define us?<\/p>\n
\u201cOur response to Sputnik made us better educated, more productive, more technologically advanced and more ingenious,\u201d\u009d said the Johns Hopkins foreign policy expert Michael Mandelbaum. \u201cOur investments in science and education spread throughout American society, producing the Internet, more students studying math and people genuinely wanting to build the nation.\u201d\u009d<\/p>\n