For the last 20 years of the Cold War, after the Democrats lost their nerve over Vietnam, there was no internationalist consensus. Internationalism was the property of the Republican Party and of a few brave Democratic dissidents led by Sen. Henry Jackson who were utterly shut out of power when the Democrats won the White House. Berger's revisionism is not restricted to the Reagan and Bush years. He can't seem to remember the Clinton years either. The American people knew what the rules were.
Engagement can mean anything.
It can mean engagement as a supplicant, as a competitor, as an ally, as an adversary, as a neutral arbiter. Wake up on a Wednesday and pick your meaning. The very emptiness of the term captures perfectly the essence of Clinton foreign policy. It is glorified ad hocism. It lurches from one civil war to another with no coherent logic and with little regard for American national interests finally proclaiming, while doing a victory jig over Kosovo, a Clinton Doctrine pledging America to stop ethnic cleansing anywhere.