>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.

Well, I'm not sure. Those things do carry through and will have their political effect. If the US receives a lot of complaints from the rest of the world, it will wonder why it is that way. It will give them a clue of what they did wrong. A lot of these complaints can be used constructively, just to build a better and stronger america.

>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.

I agree. However it was an example on naivity.

Walter,