The End of American Hegemony?

Fareed Zakaria thinks Obama is conceding to the reality that the United State is not (indeed never was) a complete hegemon -- which of course has the hegemonists (which include the neocons, but which is absolutely not limited to them) hopping mad. Zakaria, on the money:

The problem with American foreign policy goes beyond George Bush. It includes a Washington establishment that has gotten comfortable with the exercise of American hegemony and treats compromise as treason and negotiations as appeasement. Other countries can have no legitimate interests of their own—Russian demands are by definition unacceptable. The only way to deal with countries is by issuing a series of maximalist demands. This is not foreign policy; it's imperial policy. And it isn't likely to work in today's world.

Who cares if it works, though, if it makes you feel morally righteous?