Pakistan, Jan. 16 -- As this column goes to press, the partial governmental shutdown in America may be entering its fourth week-the longest in our history. The battle lines are drawn. President Donald Trump is very much betting his presidency on forcing Congressional Democrats to fund his "wall" with Mexico. While superimposed on a $4.4 trillion federal budget, the $5.8 billion requested by the president for this barrier hardly qualifies as change. Yet, to paraphrase Oscar Wilde's quip about the pettiness of academic life, because the stakes are so small in dollar terms, the politics have become so sharp.
Clearly, the president is honoring his campaign promise "to build a wall and make Mexico pay for it." Of course, the wall is a metaphor ...