More US as Revisionist Power

For another example of a neoconservative expressing the straightforward view that the United States is a revisionist power, go here and click to around 15:00 for Robert Kagan to defend the claim.  It would be really good if we would take into account the fact that others believe this when thinking about how countries will--and should--respond to us.  There seems to be a real disconnect between our own introspective recognition of this fact and a willingness to acknowledge that others can see it, too.

It all sounds alarmingly like waning empire hubris to me.

Update: Ah, it comes later.  At 54:00, we get (paraphrasing) "China is, in a way, the status quo nation and we in the West, the Transatlantic community, are the ones asking for change in the international system.  The Chinese, I think quite understandably say, "Wait a second--we thought this was a Westphalian world: sovereignty is king, that's what the UN Charter is about, and now you're...changing the rules."

It's just not clear to me that the American people are unified behind the idea that we, as the world's sole superpower, need to overturn the very world order that has helped get us where we are.