This problem will not be solved by an agreement.
Eventually, it will only be solved by an election".
None of this is going to be solved by an inventory of anything".
It was easy to see why Americans liked it: their country's problems, it seemed, might yet be solved by an antipodean Davy Crockett with a big knife.
"You could suggest to the board that the problem be solved by an agreement among all unit owners that provides that shortfalls be funded by loans to the condominium from each unit owner," Mr. Weinstein said.
In fact, "West Wing" is part of a tradition that has been absent from weekly television for a long time: the old-fashioned liberal drama, where there is no problem that can't be solved by an assertion of will and an exercise of passion.
Pivoting towards the election, it retrenched Obama's status as the defender of the American mainstream, evoking a blissful, pre-Palin era when "small town" and "liberalism" could be spoken in the same sentence, and no problem seemed too big that it couldn't be solved by an afternoon of sombre, sun-dappled reflection by decent, reasonable men in horn rims and seersucker suits.
The question now for the two parties' candidates is whether they will acknowledge that Iraq cannot be solved by an immediate withdrawal (Clinton, Obama) nor proclamations that the U.S. military has already won (McCain), although there remains "long, hard work to do".
While he was self-deprecating about that success, Heinlein was never shy about his conviction that most social problems could be solved by an application of scientifically informed reason -- if only the irrational fools in power could be forced to step aside.
