He knew the next day's news headlines wouldn't mention these complex considerations.
They would just read one sentence: "Virginia Republican Party Senator supports limiting the President's war powers against Iran."
In this country, all the complex political wrangling would ultimately be compressed into a single line like this.
But he also understood that it was exactly these compressed-away details that constituted the true balance of politics in the United States.
It was a profession of walking a tightrope every day while having to pretend to have a steady stride in front of the cameras.
Pittsburgh, City Hall.
The third day since the outbreak of Operation Epic Fury.
On the television screen, CNN was still looping those adrenaline-pumping images.
Super Hornet fighter jets taking off from an aircraft carrier's deck, and a radar station erupting into a fireball after being struck by a Tomahawk cruise missile.
