contrapositive

FACING THE MUSIC I deliberately dialed down CONTRAPOSITIVE's political thermostat in the weeks after the election: It made sense to take a breather, and to spend some time digesting the outcome.

But time marches on, and America moves ever-deeper into a period of staggeringly bad leadership. Numbing ourselves to what's happening certainly isn't the solution.

After all:

1. The invasion of Iraq has been a catastrophe in geopolitical, military, human and moral terms.

2. Victory in the war on terror remains uncertain. If the Bush administration believes that defusing the most serious threat of our time requires defeating jihadist terrorists in countries not named Iraq, there's little tangible evidence for it.

And if the President's team is working day and night to complete the difficult, boring work of securing nuclear material, protecting chemical plants and beefing up port security, they aren't doing a very good job of getting the word out.

3. Our federal government is on a path to fiscal ruin. And the people in charge are intent on accelerating its progress in that direction.

So enough wound-licking. It's time to back into the discussion.