Who will champion Lithuania?

My feeling is that history will treat Bush 43 better than his contemporaries did. One thing that we can say, he was a friend to Lithuania. He made Lithuania's hoped-for NATO membership a reality. (Photo at the White House ceremony commemorating the event is here.)

How will President Obama treat Eastern Europe? Vice President Biden's suggestion that we press the "reset" button on relations with Russia was the first bad sign.

Obama's offer to trade NATO's missile installation in Poland for Russia's support in preventing Iranian nuclear weapons was still more worrisome, not least because it made so little sense.

But it's not like Lithuania has better friends on the right side of the political spectrum. Here's what Pat Buchanan wrote recently:

After the Russia-Georgia clash last August, Bush declared, "It's important for the people of Lithuania to know that when the United States makes a commitment — we mean it."

But "mean" what? That a Russian move on Vilnius will be met by U.S. strikes on Mother Russia? Are we insane?

That is exactly what Bush meant. When Russia knows that the U.S. will respond if it attacks the Baltic states, then it will not attack—at least not with direct military force. That, I submit, is a good thing.

But which politicians will champion Lithuania today?