LOS ANGELES -- An admittedly general but perhaps not insignificant consensus in America on the necessary future direction of U.S. foreign policy appears finally to be emerging -- and not a moment too soon.

Sure, the idea is not exactly the intellectual equivalent of Einstein's theory of relativity. And, sure, it has been in formulation for a decade and a half, going back to the fall of the Berlin Wall. But whoever said America was that quick? If the direction proves as sensible as it would appear to be right now, it was well worth waiting for.

The new foreign-policy consensus might be called "Global Getting-Along."