The tradition of American political economy was placed squarely in this direction in 1913, only to be traduced by now eighty years of oily enablers of leviathan.

FORBES: Romney's 47% Has a Venerable Legacy in the 1913 Origins of the Income Tax

It was history's odd timing: A great historical rupture in the Arab world, bearing within it the promise of remaking a flawed political tradition that knew no middle ground between despotism and nihilistic violence, happened on the watch of an American president proud of his deliberateness and his detachment from history's passions.

WSJ: Fouad Ajami: Obama's Holbrooke Moment