All this comes about partly through the doctrine of unintended consequences, partly as outright cynicism and partly as the legitimate response of a leader, once in office, to the challenges of the day (sometimes a right response, sometimes a wrong one).

I like Obama’s coolness and cerebralness, and I also think his heart is in the right place. But words are easily spoken and have consequences the speaker may not desire. Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait because he had been told – or thought he had been told – by James Baker that the U.S. would not or could not respond militarily. Query: If Baker had told Saddam that it would mean war, would the first gulf war have actually occurred? Forty years of cold-war sabre-rattling never led to war or the use of the bomb. If the Soviets had felt they had a free hand in Europe, would they have made the same mistake Saddam made in Kuwait?

This is that oldtime realpolitik, which I know is hateful to you, John. I never liked it myself when I was a youngster, but the world, I discovered the hard way, is not built to the neat specifications of youths or dreamers.