And here, too, an opportunity was lost.

To neglect this window of opportunity would be tragic.

Three years have been wasted, and we have seen no signs of suspension or willingness to negotiate.

A great opportunity to segregate what is permanent and durable (i.e., constitutional ) about the Union from what is impermanent and changeable (i.e., political ) was missed.

But in many other situations, we would miss major sources of motivation and thus would adopt useless, if not counter productive, measures aimed at producing the outcomes we seek.

At long last, this is surely the opportunity for pro Doha statesmen worldwide to pressure both Obama and the Republican leadership into doing so. To neglect this window of opportunity would be tragic.

Six months that could have been spent boosting the long run growth potential of the American economy through infrastructure investment, educational reform, or an overhaul of health care financing greatly easing America's long run deficit and debt dilemmas in the process have been lost.