When two-thirds of voters say the country is on the right track, it's hard to make a case for change.
In a time of budget crisis and large cuts at the Pentagon it is hard to make such a case.
In looking at a sample of American blue chips that often come up dividend screens, it is hard to make such a case.
"If the business case is to make the mall a better mall, that's a hard case to make today, " said Spencer Levy, executive managing director of capital markets for CBRE Group Inc.
Mr Bush was far keener to experiment a hard case to make when things are genuinely going so well.
And yet, "When you talk about Adele's year, it's hard to make the case, from a recorded music perspective, that anyone else is even in the same arena, " he continued.
But it is hard to make that case for Iceland, a democracy that benefited from open markets in other countries to indulge in an acquisition spree.
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Every legal expert I have read has said the SEC has a hard case to make, which may be why only three of the five SEC Commissioners voted for proceeding with the prosecution.
It's equally hard to make the case that, as a terrorist group, al Qaeda is beyond the pale of negotiations, when the administration is eager to negotiate with Iran and Syria, both designated by the State Department as sponsors of terrorism.
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So they really were trying hard to make an investigation in this case, you know, come to a conclusion.
And though consumer prices have risen a bit this year, it would be hard to make the case that inflation is about to roar anywhere in the developed world.
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