A senior source close to the Northern Ireland talks wondered yesterday: "Is perfection the enemy of the good?" Politics has been up and down the hope graph in the past week and, this insider queried, was that because the main players were seeking the impossible?
This question was his way of trying to estimate whether the current high-stakes brinkmanship would ultimately destroy the chances of a deal because, in particular, no middle ground could be established on policing.
It's nervous out there at the moment. In the Belfast Telegraph yesterday Gerry Adams took up the guts of a page to say there was no progress. Ulster Unionists talk of more sanctions against Sinn Fein. Seamus Mallon says there can be agreement but for the sake of the process don't talk of deadlines for decommissioning.
"It is just classic endgame negotiations," someone intimate with the current protracted talks explained wearily. But he just couldn't figure whether it would end in success or failure.
Meanwhile, the talks continue. David Trimble met Tony Blair in London yesterday. Bertie Ahern and Mr Blair are keeping in regular contact with their most skilled officials and the key political players. British and Irish officials with Sinn Fein and the SDLP hack their way through the jungle of detail on policing.
Sinn Fein is not giving an inch here, according to sources. "Sinn Fein negotiates like no one else on the planet," said one insider with a mixture of admiration and exasperation. SDLP negotiators didn't have the advantage of honing their eyeballing skills in Castlereagh RUC interrogation centre but they too are being obdurate, he added.
In turn, pro-agreement Ulster Unionists such as Reg Empey, Michael McGimpsey, Sam Foster and Cecil Walker launched broadsides against the SDLP and Sinn Fein for their stances on policing and arms.
It wasn't just coincidence that these assertive comments came ahead of meetings of the Ulster Unionist Party's 14-member officer board tomorrow and the 110member executive on Saturday, where some rejectionist unionists will be agitating for a meeting of the party's 860-member ruling Council to discuss pulling out of government. Pro-agreement unionism was getting its retaliation in first by taking some of the No ground.
Everybody is hardballing, even out on the streets where for some war is preferable to jaw. The current relentless attacks on Catholics are hardly random sectarianism. Anti-Agreement elements in loyalist paramilitarism appear intent on sparking republican retaliation in an effort to scupper the current attempt to forge a deal.
It's understandable that policing is such a high-wire issue. If policing can be got right, the cross-community consensual nature of the Belfast Agreement will be in place more firmly. The SDLP still has concerns but its demands on issues such as inquiries, symbols and the Special Branch can be met more simply than can those of Sinn Fein.
Centrally, Sinn Fein is pressing for additional powers to ensure there is unbreakable legislative accountability for the Police Service of Northern Ireland through the Policing Board, the District Policing Partnerships, the Police Ombudsman and the Oversight Commissioner. It wants to limit the powers of the Chief Constable and the Northern Secretary.
The British government appears prepared to offer certain commitments and a review in one or two years. Sinn Fein says it just doesn't trust the British government and wants the Police Act amended.
Finding a middle course here isn't easy.
David Trimble will be under serious pressure at his weekend party meetings. How he gets on will depend on whether there is a whiff of a deal that might persuade him to buy extra time. But if it is as bleak as Gerry Adams says, then he may feel he has no choice but to give his No wing something to play with by way of more sanctions or the threat of more sanctions.
There is talk of the Irish Government putting pressure on Sinn Fein and the SDLP to run with or test what is on offer, but this was vehemently denied.
Mr Ahern has warned that, in the absence of a deal being struck quickly, politics may have to be parked until the autumn. The dangers of that are obvious.
Yet, despite all the pressure and the upping of the ante, there's a deal available on policing, demilitarisation and arms. But by the very nature of politics it must involve compromise from Sinn Fein, the SDLP, and the Ulster Unionists.
It must be imperfect.