An excellent analogy, sports metaphors also have the advantage that they are easily grasped by everyone, especially by those who are desperate for any good news at all.

And it may be premature to say the surge/Petraeus policy is working, although preliminary reports like this one are certainly encouraging, especially to those desperate for any good news at all.

The proof of the pudding still depends on the same three measurable criteria: Will the infrastructure start to recover, will the Iraqi forces strengthen their capabilities, and will the level of sectarian violence drop off. And all this has to happen during a time when American forces will start to decline due to politically motivated troop withdrawals and sheer attrition. and exhaustion You will note everyone is arguing about the former, but no one seems to be mentioning the real problem, which is the latter.

We're not out of the woods yet, but thanks to Rumsfeld's departure, we're just now getting to the tree line.