By directly confronting each of these challenges, we can preserve the hard-won gains our economy has made and advance toward greater prosperity.
It gains our confidence by telling us what we already believe: that governments are corrupt and inefficient, and that the meek and the helpless will be punished.
DiMaggio appears often enough as a narrow-minded tyrant here, but he also gains our sympathy because of the reality of his suffering.
"The tedium of counterinsurgency ops, the small, very incremental gains — our military culture doesn't lend itself to that kind of war," Jack McLaughlin, a major on Hickey's staff, told me.
To truly solidify these hard-fought democratic gains, our neighbors to the south need thoughtful American engagement that goes far beyond the administration's black and white view of the world.
"Any further drawdown will be based on conditions on the ground and the recommendations of our commanders," he said, "and they must not jeopardize the hard-fought gains our troops and civilians have made over the past year".
