The state of the Union....................

Yes, America, perhaps the only country on earth that can be serially led by second- or third-rate presidents—and somehow always manage to come up trumps (so to speak).  America, where half of college-age Americans can’t find New York state on a map — even as those same young Americans lead the world in innovation.  America, where Cornel West is celebrated as an intellectual, Miley Cyrus as an artist, Jonathan Franzen as a novelist and Kim Kardashian as a beauty — and yet remains the cultural dynamo of the world.

-Bret Stephens, as quoted by Stuart Schneiderman, in this essay about Chinese Premier Xi Jinping's upcoming visit to our shores.