It is none of the above which you refer to. It is finding a consensus. It's like buying a pair of shoes. It takes a lot of patience to find just the right pair. Better this than have a squeaky or ill fitted group of persons running things. It is entirely appropriate to belabor these choices. You might want to cut back on the caffeine a bit.

"But just this once could we show the same unity, discipline and sense of purpose that's proven so effective for conservatives?"

Or the Democrats. This year. When we elected Obama.

This is a bit off track, but I'd like to comment on AnacherForester's "voice."

I live in Green Bay, born a Packers fan, love Brett Favre. What drove me nuts about Favre, he of the ungodly interception, was his attitude that because he made the great plays we had to accept the horrific ones. He was who he was and he couldn't change. Favre is certainly one of the ten best QBs ever to play. However, had he ever addressed his shortcomings, his penchant for the shockingly poor pass at inopportune moments, he would be the greatest of all time with a couple more Super Bowl rings to boot.

AnacherForester notes his use of profanity. We are asked to "deal" with it. My friend, when you find yourself typing "fuc..", stop, hit the backspace three times and find a better way to express yourself. I'm no prude. Sometimes a fuck or a shit expresses the sentiment perfectly, but it's the singular use in an unexpected context that makes it powerful. To me, a torrent of profanity simply suggests a lazy mind. You certainly can change. Drop the italics,the boldface, the underlining. Just make your arguments, let your words speak. You'll have more readers. Don't force me to wade through the font tricks and profanity to discover what you're saying. I'll understand your argument and your urgency. Change a bit, and make it easier for me to read it. Keep writing, I'll keep reading.

Well as a former Hillary supporter in the primaries I find the discussions pro and con about Hillary being SOS pretty funny. Where are the Kosovo condemnations? Where is the talk of lack of experience? All I can say is WOW....Time heals all wounds?

Co-effing-sign. And rather than writing a post that would compete with this important message, as I originally intended, let me just subscribe my own rant here in the comments.

I was really hoping I could retire from trying to smack some sense into the Chicken Littles of the party after the election. In hindsight, it was incredibly foolish of me to think that this was just an election-anxiety induced phenomonon rather than a pervasive personality trait among a huge segment of the party's rank and file. I mean, I know enough Democrats personally to constitute a valid sample and, of course, people who are prone to find things to worry about are in our party.

So I'm not going to tell people to stop worrying and handwringing because, evidently, they might as well stop trying to breathe.

But Jesus Christ on a dashboard, is it too much to ask you people to wait until you actually have something real to worry about? Cause this making up shit that might happen and worrying about that thing just makes us all look ridiculous. And if you can't do that, could you please at least direct your energy to the far more productive end of worrying about things that are statistical certainties over time but low probability at a given time? Things like, say, killer asteroid strikes and the Yellowstone supervolcano and the lack of earthquake preparedness in areas near the New Madrid fault?

Oh, and those of you worrying that he's not going to be sufficiently ideologically pure in all things, at all times? Has it escaped your notice that that exact same attitude is what now has the Republican on the path to extinction?

Some of us chicken littles are more like raptors who have been cruising around the FP terrain for years and know the shape of it. When we see anomalies in the landscape, we tend to sharpen focus.

Don't like it?

Too bad. Stick to your knitting.

I'll keep on alert for the appearances of Dennis Ross, Richard Holbrook, Martin Indyk and the like despite the wailing cacaphony from the nervous nellie contingent.

Good post--but Lally also has a valid point.

Trust. Be enthusiastic. But verify.

But the other thing we may be forgetting in our handwringing about various picks is...growth...learning...changing minds.

We assume that because Person X did Y back in the 1990s--which was a totally different time--that they are simply going to assume office and try to do the same things over again.

Even when those things didn't work. Even when conditions now are different. Even when they're working for a different boss.

Sure, it's possible they will. Some people are like that. But I think it's equally likely that a Dennis Ross will see that what he did before didn't work out, that his new boss wants real results, and that the environment has changed radically...and will do some things differently.

Only time will tell...

Will people please stop the fucking Clinton bashing? Nothing pisses me off more than coming to a liberal site and reading that shit. Go post on National Review or O'Reillys message boards if you hate the Clintons so much. I've hardly been hanging around here this last week because I'm sick of it.