One of the enduring legacies of former President George W. Bush is the relationship he forged between the United States and India. That effort, driven by moral and geostrategic imperatives, enabled two of the world's largest democracies to overcome decades of rancor.
There were fears that this initiative might not survive the transition to the Obama administration, but those concerns appear to have been put to rest, at least if this week's visit to India by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is any indication. Mrs. Clinton's trip produced a raft of agreements that allow the two countries to broaden and deepen their budding partnership. But it also showed the divisions between them and the potential limits on their relationship.
Arguing that the world's two largest democracies were natural partners, Mr. Bush bulldozed objections to a relationship that had been blocked by Delhi's determination to join the club of nuclear nations and its objection to the global nonproliferation regime. If shared values were not reason enough for the two to work together, there was the siren song of economic opportunity as well as shared suspicions of China.