NEW DELHI -- Political scientist Samuel Huntington has aptly described the United States as the "sole state with pre-eminence in every domain of power -- economic, military, diplomatic, ideological, technological and cultural -- with the reach capabilities to promote its interests in virtually every part of the world." America's unrivaled power has long been rooted in Franklin D. Roosevelt's principles of "righteous might" and "absolute victory."

America's power has continued to grow despite profound world changes in the past decade. As the U.S. enjoys its longest economic boom in history, the information age continually increases its global political and cultural reach and the revolution in military affairs keeps it militarily supreme. These heady times for the U.S. have prompted Secretary of State Madeleine Albright to call America "the indispensable nation . . . because we stand tall and hence see further than other nations."

The current spectacle of the presidential race politically bifurcating the most powerful democracy not only mystifies the world but also shows that the sole superpower hardly stands tall. The political logjam must be particularly embarrassing for a country that sees itself as a role model and whose foreign policy is based on self-righteous proselytizing about democracy. With the demise of Soviet communism and the Chinese Communist Party's embrace of market capitalism, the only power still wedded to a distinct ideology is the U.S.