A Victory for Democracy, not for the Democrats...

"Once you've got Baghdad, it's not clear what you do with it. It's not clear what kind of government you would put in place of the one that's currently there now. Is it going to be a Shia regime, a Sunni regime or a Kurdish regime? Or one that tilts toward the Baathists, or one that tilts toward the Islamic fundamentalists? How much credibility is that government going to have if it's set up by the United States military when it's there? How long does the United States military have to stay to protect the people that sign on for that government, and what happens to it once we leave?"
-Dick Cheney (then Defense Secretary) to the NY Times in 1991
George F. Will is a Washington Post columnist and he has correctly diagnosed that even presidents can fall prey to "irrational exuberance". I don't know enough about American history to agree with him that Iraq is the "worst foreign policy disaster in its history" but Iraq is THE perfect example of irrational exuberance in action.

Luckily in a democracy there is a predictable forum in which such "irrational exuberance" can be (somewhat) marginalized. The American system of fixed mid-term elections is a wonderful one. It has given the electorate (read: 'swing voters') an opportunity to voice their displeasure over neoconservativism.

Irving Kristol, the founder of this extremist conservatism, described himself as "a liberal mugged by reality". That may have been true of neocons out of power, but in the last 6 years it is obvious that in practice, neocons are really: "liberals mugged by an illusionary-impractical-idealistic realism".

The Democrats have regained control of the Congress for the first time since 1994. When Dick Cheney said what is quoted above, the Democrats were in control of Congress for nearly 40 years and there had not yet been WTC Part I, WTC Part II, the USS Cole etc. Unfortunately, it was these very incidents that contributed to the perverted expression of American anger towards such events.

I don't believe the Democrats have a clue how to resolve Iraq, but I take solace in the fact that the neocon presidency has been weakened, and through their proxy, the Republican Party, has lost control of Congress. I sincerely hope that the midterm losses empower the real conservatives, (those who believe in economic liberalism and traditional-family-values) to marginalize the neocon excesses.

Jai American Democracy!