Mark Davis: Growing Pessimism Seems Justified
Pick any time in history, and you'll find daunting, discouraging problems. Today is surely no exception: A stagnant war, ineffective borders, soaring gas prices and other problems stew in a soup of political discourse so bitter that solutions seem unthinkable.
Through it all, I try to stay upbeat. I believe America has more honest people in government than crooks, more involved citizens than snoozers, more good people than bad. And I can always find more reasons than not to feel good about the country.
But on the two titanic issues of our day - the war in Iraq and immigration - it grows harder by the day to expect progress.
Not impossible - harder. I remain thankful that we have a president and fighting force willing to stick with the goal of a free, democratic Iraq. And on immigration, those of us who have properly outed the Bush/McCain/Kennedy bill as vastly insufficient have won a temporary victory.
But looking ahead, I see few ways for things to go well and plenty of pathways to failure.
September will bring Gen. David Petraeus' report on war progress. The White House once scolded critics to wait until then before passing judgment; now a nervous Bush team is already trying to dampen expectations and restrain any conclusions that the "surge" has been a failure.
One problem: Critics of the surge are correct. It is close to meaningless today and likely to remain that way. It kills me to utter a sentence that might as well come from the index cards of the surrender wing of the Democratic Party.
But while their criticism stems from the fact that they have never believed in the mission, mine is born of impatience. I have believed from the outset that the idea of planting seeds of democracy in the portion of the world that wants us dead is a masterstroke of visionary genius.
What leaves me cold is the notion that we have gone at it with years of half-measures. We have worried more about civilian casualties than winning. We have worried more about detainees' rights than winning. We have worried more about world opinion than winning.
Read entire article at Real Clear Politics
Through it all, I try to stay upbeat. I believe America has more honest people in government than crooks, more involved citizens than snoozers, more good people than bad. And I can always find more reasons than not to feel good about the country.
But on the two titanic issues of our day - the war in Iraq and immigration - it grows harder by the day to expect progress.
Not impossible - harder. I remain thankful that we have a president and fighting force willing to stick with the goal of a free, democratic Iraq. And on immigration, those of us who have properly outed the Bush/McCain/Kennedy bill as vastly insufficient have won a temporary victory.
But looking ahead, I see few ways for things to go well and plenty of pathways to failure.
September will bring Gen. David Petraeus' report on war progress. The White House once scolded critics to wait until then before passing judgment; now a nervous Bush team is already trying to dampen expectations and restrain any conclusions that the "surge" has been a failure.
One problem: Critics of the surge are correct. It is close to meaningless today and likely to remain that way. It kills me to utter a sentence that might as well come from the index cards of the surrender wing of the Democratic Party.
But while their criticism stems from the fact that they have never believed in the mission, mine is born of impatience. I have believed from the outset that the idea of planting seeds of democracy in the portion of the world that wants us dead is a masterstroke of visionary genius.
What leaves me cold is the notion that we have gone at it with years of half-measures. We have worried more about civilian casualties than winning. We have worried more about detainees' rights than winning. We have worried more about world opinion than winning.