This needed to be said:
Mattis was speaking to reporters at the Pentagon in the afternoon when one of them asked what Mattis' top concern for the year would be. Mattis, however, turned the question around.
"I don't have concerns. I create them," Mattis said, according to multiple reports.
This is a good corrective to an attitude I've long despaired of curing in this country.
General Grant put it well to his subordinates who raised constant worries about what Lee could do when Grant's army marched:
Oh, I am heartily tired of hearing about what Lee is going to do. Some of you always seem to think he is suddenly going to turn a double somersault, and land in our rear and on both of our flanks at the same time. Go back to your command, and try to think what we are going to do ourselves, instead of what Lee is going to do.
Our enemies need to spend more time dwelling on their concerns about what America can do.
