Walter,

In such cases, playing the naive optimist, is just choosing to ignore the problem and possibly only making it worse.

Nobody is promoting naive optimism. I was referring to the universally negative portrayal of the US. IME nobody responds well to constant hammering. They lash back or cease caring what you think.

I'm not going to pile on re Iraq, either. I said my piece right back at the start. No use trumpeting now that the invasion is a reality and the troops are unable to depart. "See I told you so" isn't a way to improve anything, it's just a taunt.