To Rebuild the Image

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incumbent Administrations in recent years. During the Viet Nam War, many on the left bewailed what they consid ered the immorality of American policy. Destructive self-crit icism continued long after Viet Nam, but this tune it came from the right and was directed against the perceived impo tence of American policy.

The nation has a chance to put behind it the self-flagellation of the past 15 years. The U.S. is clearly eager for a more positive approach toward the troubles — and the opportunities — facing it around the world. Reagan won his presidency in part because he capitalized successfully on a national nostalgia for what seem, in retrospect, simpler, less troubled times. Americans should not be nostalgic for a lost, largely illusory and certainly irretrievable tune when the U.S. always got its way in the world. The more worthy and certainly more salutary objects of nostalgia are a mood of cautious optimism and a can-do faith in American abil ities. That mood and that faith can be restored. Once restored, they will help greatly hi defining a new role for America as a super power.