To be honest, I never liked "stay the course." I prefer something akin to "do whatever it takes," which could mean "secure the Kurds and get the hell out if the muslims, Shia and Sunni alike, are simply hell-bent on slaughtering each other wholesale."
Ronald Reagan’s Cold War policy:
We win, they lose.
I am with you. "Stay the course" doesn't have positive vibes for me either, especially the way the course has been bent since "Shock and Awe".
I like it. As a ship at sea it sails to an objective [PORT] or a geographic location. To steer off that course is to NOT arrive at the port or location....i.e OBJECTIVE!
Also it came in vogue during the Revolutionary War. Pretty good history IMHO even if dated.