America has a problem that afflicts both her foreign policy and domestic affairs: cowardice.

A nation of wusses. That's us.

That's not how we see ourselves, of course. Whatever our flaws — impetuousness, naivete, our sense of exceptionalism — few Americans count pusillanimity among them. For conservatives bravery as a national trait is a given; if anything, progressives wish we'd walk it back a bit, toning down the testosterone in favor of a little humility.