Bill Kristol holds up for close examination Barack Obama’s endorsement of “persistence” in last night’s press conference. Kristol rightly notes that persistence is the wrong go-to approach in addressing an imminent emergency like Iran. But there are larger problems with Obama’s announcement that persistence is the new “hope.” The president said, “That whole philosophy of persistence, by the way, is one that I’m going to be emphasizing again and again in the months and years to come, as long as I am in this office. I’m a big believer in persistence.”

But persistence isn’t a “philosophy.” One can be a persistent pacifist or a persistent neo-liberal or a persistent fascist or a persistent wealth-spreader or a persistent anything. So what is he actually putting us on notice of?

He’s indicating that what we may perceive as failure “again and again in the months and years to come,” should be understood instead as evidence of un-exhausted persistence. He is both lowering expectations and excusing future stubbornness with a sort of elementary-school emphasis on the importance of trying again. No matter how many times Obama falls, we should not worry. He will get back up, dust himself off, and try again. He is on auto-reset, if you will.

How curious that this constitutional persistence should appear now. After all, we have been engaged in a difficult war in Mesopotamia for six years, and through it all, Barack Obama has been extolling the virtues of quitting. Change, I suppose.