The Ed Sullivan Show often featured a juggler
balancing spinning dishes on top of long thin sticks.
He would keep adding poles and plates and bowls
until he had a dozen or more whirling in the air.
I remember the act clearly, but not how it ended.
Did the china fall, fly away, disappear or what?
It might be the same [...]

The president’s Afghanistan plan
deserves John Stewart’s mockery,
and Tom Friedman’s dismay.
He did exactly what he said he would,
but we didn’t elect him to be consistent.
We did it because he promised change.