Arthur Schlesinger Jr. declared “these are days of ‘rent-a-superpower'” to a nearly full Carl Sandburg auditorium Wednesday night.

“Is the United States to be the only guarantor of the international order?” Schlesinger asked. World problems cannot always have an American solution, the noted historian and political expert said, quoting John F. Kennedy.

Schlesinger said uncertainty has typified Mideast policies. Because the United States made mistakes about Iraq, Syria, Iran and others, “why do we suppose that at last today we are right?”

He admitted President Bush’s strongest argument for intervention is his desire to forge a collective security in the world. Bush’s mistake was to commit 400,000 ground forces and push Iraq and the U.S. into a corner, he said. Any Iraqi attack on Saudi Arabia could have been repelled by air power in the open desert, he added.

Bush’s attempt to portray U.S. involvement as a defense of democracy is ludicrous, he said. “Kuwait is less a country than a bank account.”

As for Bush’s claim that Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait would cut the flow of oil, the rest of OPEC has stepped up oil producton in compensation, he said. If war broke out, it would actually reduce—rather than preserve—the West’s present oil supply, he said.

Schlesinger said he believes the best policy is for the Arab nations to create solutions on their own, allowing the U.S. to concentrate more on domestic problems. In tomorrow’s economy, Japan and Germany should be the U.S.‘s main concern, he said.

Schlesinger also pointed out the irony of the U.S. and the Soviet Union’s response to military intervention. The Soviets declared they will consult their legislature before deploying troops while Bush and Secretary of State James Baker question congressional input, he said.

The president should look at congressional advice “not as a burden to be evaded but an opportunity to be embraced,” he said.