I'd like to share an observation that I've made over the past couple of decades. Perhaps you haven't noticed this, but it seems to me that one of the standards of judgment that we hold for our political leaders is that they must be consistent. We want leaders, it appears to me, who never budge, who never change, and are resolutely the same no matter what happens. Does this ring true for you?

A few years back, during a terrible international situation in Africa, the sitting president of the time set a policy of non-involvement in this crisis. There were some folks who felt that humanitarian aid and other engagement might help stop the slaughter, so they lobbied the White House with all kinds of information. The president reviewed the information, and saw that maybe our nation could make a …