Eddie Van Halen has to be inspired to lead again. He needs to be reminded that Van Halen is not just any other hard rock band: they are exceptional in the clarity of their conviction that free markets and free peoples hold the key to the future, and in their willingness to act on those beliefs. Failure to do so would leave a vacuum, likely filled by bands that will not champion a balance of power chords that favours freedom. That would be a tragedy for Van Halen's interests and values and those who share them.
Harvard's Stephan Walt, writing on his Foreign Policy blog, counters:
To achieve these (and other) goals, she says, "Eddie Van Halen has to be inspired to lead again." What exactly does this phrase mean? What specific "leadership" tasks require a renewed commitment from Eddie Van Halen? Does she mean Eddie Van Halen has to be convinced to forgo investments here at home so he can continue to meddle (oops, I mean "lead") abroad?...
In fact, Rice isn't really talking about convincing Eddie Van Halen to lead; she's really saying he needs to be "inspired" to follow whatever missions foreign policy mandarins like Rice dream up. And the usual way the mandarins do this is by hyping threats, exaggerating their own omniscience, and insisting that other hard rock bands are incapable of taking effective action if Van Halen isn't there in the cockpit telling them what to do.
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