It's a two way street
Peter Feaver in the WaPo writes a very interesting piece he calls The Clinton Mind-Set. I generally agree with what he writes, but think there's something unsaid that ought to be out in the open. While it's true that Clinton didn't take on Al Qaeda, Afghanistan, and Pakistan, and while it's true one of the reasons for this is that there was no political support for these actions, what's also true is that there was no Republican support for such actions either. Indeed, as I posted below, it was exactly the opposite.
What got in the way of bigger picture thinking on the part of the Republicans in 1998 is the same thing getting in the way of the Democrats today: political self-interest. Please pay careful attention to the conventions this summer for the many references from the podiums to this point.