Politics & Power Quote by Patrick Leahy

"Working capital" is a deliberately unromantic choice of metaphor for something most politicians dress up as destiny. Leahy frames alliances and credibility not as feel-good multilateralism, but as assets you spend and replenish to get deals done. It’s a businessman’s ledger applied to diplomacy: if you’ve burned through trust, your borrowing costs go up, your options shrink, and even friends start demanding collateral.

The line’s intent is twofold. First, it reframes foreign policy as a practical instrument of national interest, not a moral hobbyhorse. That’s meant to speak to skeptics who hear "alliances" and think "entanglements". Second, it’s an indictment with a timestamp. "Eroded over the last four years" is political shorthand for the Trump era without saying Trump, a way to signal accountability while keeping the critique institutional: the damage isn’t just bad manners, it’s balance-sheet loss.

The subtext is that credibility functions like a currency. You can’t print it on command; you earn it through consistency, predictability, and follow-through. When a country threatens to leave treaties, treats partners as protection rackets, or flips positions by tweet, the world adapts. Allies hedge, rivals test boundaries, and American promises start to look like temporary campaign literature.

Context matters: Leahy, a long-serving Democratic senator, is speaking from a worldview where U.S. power is amplified through networks. The warning isn’t sentimental. It’s transactional: once reputational capital is squandered, even a superpower pays interest.