I don't remember voting in November on whether the United States should resign as global hegemon and step down from being the only superpower. Do you remember that being on the ballot?

President Obama seems to think so. With his announcement of his new proposed national security team now complete, that's the only way to interpret his intentions.

Goodbye, Pax Americana.

Sending Senator John Kerry to the State Department and former Senator Chuck Hagel to Defense is capable of no other interpretation. The Administration's support of the Arab Spring and the systemic failure and betrayal of our national interest represented by Benghazi are all now mere harbingers of the future. In dismantling America's status as sole superpower, Messers Obama, Kerry and Hagel can expect to receive the same protection from the leftist MSM as the President and Secretary of State Clinton. George McGovern's 1972  call  - "Come Home, America" - is now confirmed to be the Obama's Administration's policy.

So, let us have no illusions.

The President we have just re-elected sincerely intends to diminish America's role, power and influence in the world. Like every leader on the American left since at least 1968, Mr. Obama believes that the biggest problem in the world today is that the United States is too strong. He thus rejects the vision of America's role in the world articulated by Democratic Presidents Wilson, Roosevelt, Truman and Johnson.

Sad to say, this President believes in that vision as much as he believes in the oath he will take in two weeks to "preserve, protect and defend" the Constitution of the United States.

Not at all.

No American president in history since the 1920's has sought to do what President Obama now proposes to do - diminish American power in the world. Yet, as the Hagel and Kerry nominations show, that is precisely Mr. Obama's goal - a goal, he believes, which was ratified by American voters on November 6th.

We shall see.

Charles Krauthammer lays out the full significance and implications of the Hagel nomination - including that its impact is not dependent on whether Senator Hagel is ultimately confirmed - inl this excellent piece in today's Washington Post.

Now tell me again when we voted on that. And why the hell didn't Mitt Romney campaign on this issue in the general election?