He is susceptible to pressure, as he showed in backing away from his plan to lower arsenic standards for drinking water. Perhaps most important, he and his aides are capable of tailoring their views in the face of reality, as they have done in their apparent decision to appoint a special Middle East negotiator. For liberals, the lesson of the last 100 days is plain. If they can rouse themselves to mount a disciplined, principled opposition, Democrats can achieve a great deal. Sledgehammers and Fleas E volutionary biologists have long noted the adaptation crises faced by species when their environment changes and they suddenly find their ingrained survival instincts doing them more harm than good.
Survival depends on how quickly they learn to adapt.
Something very much like that is happening to Jews today. Two millennia of homelessness and persecution have bred a deeply ingrained set of survival instincts. Chief among them are the basic commandments to expect the worst from one's neighbors and to leave no slight unanswered. Every slope is a slippery one, and the powerless don't get a second chance. These are instincts that have served Jews well for centuries, allowing them to weather many storms and live to fight another day.