Wisconsin’s junior Senator Russ Feingold has characteristically voiced his support for a Presidential nominee (in this case, Condoleezza Rice for Secretary of State) because he feels it is his constitutional duty to do so. Nevertheless he has presented an eloquent and compelling critique of the U.S.’s foreign policy record over the past four years, a record that will likely be damaged more by the loss of the moderating influence of departing Secretary Colin Powell:

Over the past four years, we have witnessed the greatest loss of a very valuable type of American power in our history: our power to lead, to persuade, and to inspire. . . . [T]his power will not convert the extremists who oppose us no matter what. Those people must be eliminated, pure and simple. But it can thwart their plans, by denying them new recruits, undermining their appeal and their message, and unifying, rather than dividing, Americans and the rest of the international community. Rather than bolstering this asset, which has helped to make us the most powerful country on earth, I’m afraid we have squandered it.

Read the full text of Senator Feingold’s speech to the Senate here.