Since former Congressman, Cabinet Secretary, and Vice Presidential candidate Jack Kemp died on May 2, a wide variety of eulogies and retrospectives have characterized the many facets of his life, ranging from professional football to "bleeding heart conservative." There were many thoughtful – and partisan – elements to Kemp's career but one not normally exposed was demonstrated in his speech in February 1998 to the Los Angeles World Affairs Council.

In his analysis, Kemp rejected the trilogy of foreign affairs options that he identified as then in vogue: Let the UN take care of the world; concentrate on U.S. domestic concerns with an economic protectionist theme; and "dabbling" in world affairs depending on the issue of the moment.

Kemp dismissed the UN as having "no standing as a democratic body" and characterized it as "an international body of elitists." Retreating behind U.S. borders would be an "abdication of our moral responsibility to lead." He claimed that "Americans do not wish to live in a protectionist world where choices are limited, mediocrity encouraged and the individual diminished." And so far as episodic intervention is concerned, Kemp described it as "strategy without policy, a posture that would lead us down the path of imperialism and inevitably cause much of the world to conspire against us."

Noting that the "future is not taking care of itself," Kemp said that new thinking and a "compact" with the American people to set out our national goals was necessary.

Unfortunately, Kemp was more descriptive than prescriptive – and certainly he was not predictive. The words "terrorism" or "Islam" go unmentioned. To say, as Kemp did, "American must lead" begs the questions: when; where; how? And does not even broach the question of leading when others oppose – or if we head down the wrong trail (even with the best of intentions) where we ought not to have gone.