An incredibly admirable job,

Writing is an incredibly lonely job.

Jefferson expected them to bring something back other than samples of this and that. They were really going to represent the West in the American imagination. They had to somehow say, 'This is America.' No one had really had that burden before.

The speech will give millions of Americans an impression of this president and his administration at a time when the edifice is shaky. And we never know until it is delivered how it is going to go or where it will go.

All he had to do in 2002 was say 'We're going to do something,' and everyone was going to cheer. It really didn't matter much what it was.

The West was very disorienting - vast, big, rough, dislocating. None of that represented home.