When depression sets in, our problems seem to melt into each other until we are faced with one hellish soup of difficulty.

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We may not be faced with the level of wrenching emotional difficulty that confronted Lincoln on a daily basis.

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One expat observes that Britain's left, faced with the erosion of civil liberties at home and a plausible Conservative victory at the next election, has difficulty feeling holier-than-thou when looking across at Barack Obama, the Democrats' probable candidate for president.

ECONOMIST: Americans abroad