“Freedom is not the same as independence. Americans will not support those who seek independence in order to replace a far-off tyranny with a local despotism. They will not aid those who promote a suicidal nationalism based upon ethnic hatred.”

— George H.W. Bush, “Chicken Kiev Speech,” Kiev, August 1, 1991

“Kosovo’s independence is a unique situation resulting from the irreparable rupture Slobodan Milosevic’s actions caused; it is in no way a precedent for anyone else in the region or around the world.”

— Statement by Senator Obama on the Independence of Kosovo, February 17, 2008

Among the lessons we’ve gained from a life of foreign corresponding are that wars have consequences — and that history has its ironies. As Kosovars danced in the streets in joy and kissed the nearest Americans and the United Nations wrung its hands, the son of the president who delivered the Chicken Kiev speech embraced change in the Balkans. And the echoes of the words of the 41st president against independence for the so-called Soviet so-called Socialist so-called Republics are coming from a Democratic presidential candidate aquiver at the prospect that some other downtrodden countries might take hope from Kosovo’s example and seek to follow suit.

What a crabbed view for the moment. No doubt secession isn’t always a good thing in and of itself. America’s secession from Britain was a good thing; the South’s attempt to secede from the Union was bad. The breakup of the Soviet Union was good. We’d prefer a unified and free China, but an independent and free Taiwan would be better than the alternative of an unfree Taiwan under the boot of Communist China.

But if Mr. Obama believes, as he said in his statement, that after independence Kosovo can emerge as a model of “democratic and economic growth,” and its people “can know a bright future,” why discourage others who peacefully seek self-determination from following Kosovo’s example? He is, after all, supposed to be the candidate of change. Let the diplomats at Turtle Bay do the handwringing; it’s for what they’re paid. If the remarkable surge of pro-American sentiment in Kosovo can be duplicated elsewhere, so much the better.