Last week's major policy address by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was as noteworthy for the strategic concepts she dismissed as for the ones she embraced. Clinton provided Americans with a strong sense of how she plans to conduct U.S. foreign policy: not merely as "the indispensable nation" that assumes international leadership, but rather as the global rule-set convener that aggressively builds partnerships across a strategic landscape pulsating with rising players -- both state-based and transnational.
In doing so, Secretary Clinton explicitly rejected the emerging -- and yet painfully antiquated -- conventional wisdom that portrays a world inevitably divided into antagonistic poles.
The shift in vision is both profound and important.