WaPo: Good News Re: Iraqi Elections
Like it says. God, might this whole mess really turn out to be a non-total disaster in the end? If so, it's better than we deserve. Still, today may be a day for a very slight--guarded, tentative--sigh of relief.
My guess is that the adminstration hopes that they can get a plausible Iraqi government in place asap and then rely on it--or encourage it--to ask us to leave before the sh*t can really hit the fan.
Despite the reprehensible actions of the Bush administration and its irresponsible conduct of the war, I personally believe that democracy is such a strong force that it might even be able to take root under conditions like those in Iraq. Despite our best efforts to screw this up, I still believe that there is a better than 50/50 chance that this will all work out for the best in the (very, very) long run.
The downside is that we alienated the world and inflamed the Middle East in the process, and that may end up making the whole thing a losing proposition in the end. But most of the American electorate don't really pay attention to that part.
The other downside, of course, is that Bush will get credit for any success we might have in Iraq despite his ineptitude and dishonesty. That sucks bad, but it beats failure in Iraq.
And that's the way it works in American politics--and probably elsewhere, too. You don't get graded on how smart your policies are, nor on how likely they are to succeed. You get graded on whether things work out or fail to work out after you implement your policy. If a U.S. president took the entire contents of the U.S. treasury to Vegas and bet it all on red and won, he'd be a hero. A dumbass, but a hero.
And still democracy is the best form of government there is. Scary, huh?
Like it says. God, might this whole mess really turn out to be a non-total disaster in the end? If so, it's better than we deserve. Still, today may be a day for a very slight--guarded, tentative--sigh of relief.
My guess is that the adminstration hopes that they can get a plausible Iraqi government in place asap and then rely on it--or encourage it--to ask us to leave before the sh*t can really hit the fan.
Despite the reprehensible actions of the Bush administration and its irresponsible conduct of the war, I personally believe that democracy is such a strong force that it might even be able to take root under conditions like those in Iraq. Despite our best efforts to screw this up, I still believe that there is a better than 50/50 chance that this will all work out for the best in the (very, very) long run.
The downside is that we alienated the world and inflamed the Middle East in the process, and that may end up making the whole thing a losing proposition in the end. But most of the American electorate don't really pay attention to that part.
The other downside, of course, is that Bush will get credit for any success we might have in Iraq despite his ineptitude and dishonesty. That sucks bad, but it beats failure in Iraq.
And that's the way it works in American politics--and probably elsewhere, too. You don't get graded on how smart your policies are, nor on how likely they are to succeed. You get graded on whether things work out or fail to work out after you implement your policy. If a U.S. president took the entire contents of the U.S. treasury to Vegas and bet it all on red and won, he'd be a hero. A dumbass, but a hero.
And still democracy is the best form of government there is. Scary, huh?
posted by Winston Smith at
1:46 PM
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