If you are faced with the real possibility of a crushing failure in a cherished endeavor, you generally have a few options. On the one hand, you could admit defeat and bow out gracefully, preserving your dignity by knowing when to quit. On the other hand, you could re-evaluate your strategy, asking yourself deep, soul-searching questions as to the reason for your impending failure, and strive to reverse course before it’s too late. Or you could just stubbornly maintain that nothing has failed, your strategy is perfect and any evidence to the contrary is just wrong. Guess which path President J…