From the Voice of America:

VOA News - Rice On The Middle East: "'Cynics and skeptics cannot see a democratic Middle East, so they doubt that it is a realistic goal. They focus only on the despotism that has shaped the region's past and still defines much of the present. But...make no mistake, freedom is on the march in Afghanistan and Iraq and in Lebanon and in Georgia and Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan and in the Palestinian territories.'"

Cynics doubt progress can be made. When some progress is made, it isn't enough to them. The goalposts keep moving.