Like a good poem, Mr. Collins, 60, seems to have materialized, fully formed, out of nowhere.
Unfortunately, fully functional democracies usually take decades to fully materialize, and young democracies tend to be much more fragile in the early years following a democratic transition.
After all, the consequences of your decisions may not fully materialize until a much later date.
"If we wait for threats to fully materialize," he said then, "we will have waited too long".
He expanded on the theme at West Point two weeks ago, saying, "If we wait for threats to fully materialize, we will have waited too long".
"Still, you need a little imagination" to really believe the grand plan for revitalization will fully materialize, conceded Larry Fishman of Asbury Partners, the company overseeing redevelopment.
Using a line that often turns up in his stump speech, he continued: "America must confront threats before they fully materialize.
In the future, the country is not going to let the dangers fully materialize, and we're not going to allow ourselves to be attacked before we do anything about it.
"If we wait for threats to fully materialize, we will have waited too long," the president said, speaking at the commencement of the 204th graduating class of West Point, the nation's oldest military academy.
The clearest enunciation of the doctrine was delivered in 2002 at West Point when President Bush stated: "If we wait for threats to fully materialize, we will have waited too long.
