On Strategic Calm, as a Virtue

[supergee]

As the years go by, I am more and more convinced that the immediate, fast-twitch talk-show responses about what we "have" to do in response to various developments are almost always wrong, and the calm, day- or week-after reflections about proportion, response, and national interest are almost always wiser. If I could, I would put all cable-TV discussion of breaking-news crises on a 24-hour delay. Maybe there has been a case in which immediate reflex-response to big news has seemed wise in the long run. Right now I can't think of any.

–James Fallows