Commentary Politicians react and often too late—that’s the unfortunate historical record. Politicians in democracies tend to be risk-averse, fettered by political and media perception (often expressed by the term “maintaining political viability”). The pols don’t want to get ahead of mainstream media opinion. Driven by insight and often sheer genius, entrepreneurs and inventors create and act, sometimes years before markets demand their services and inventions. Beltway political perception blinded the Biden administration’s Afghanistan debacle. On Aug. 31, Reuters quoted a July 23 phone call between President Joe Biden and Afghan then-President Ashraf Ghani. Biden: “… I need not tell you the perception around the world and in parts of Afghanistan, I believe, is that things aren’t going well in terms of the fight against the Taliban. And there’s a need, whether it is true or not, there is a need to project a different picture.” A political perception Biden desired …