The Enemy of My Enemy?

We may soon run an experiment in how our enemies view the Bush administration's effectiveness in fighting them.

This election may, if the Republicans lose control of either or both houses of Congress, be an interesting look at how enemies react to the perceived loss by the administration in power in the middle of a war. We might have seen this in 2004 had Kerry won, but did not.

When our election results are in, will the jihadi sympathizers be cheering in the streets tomorrow morning like it was 9/11 all over again, happy they can phone contacts in America and wire money without fear of being caught?

Or will they be glum, thinking that an America no longer distracted by Iraq from waging war on jihadi terrorists will soon be coming after the jihadis full bore?

I'm actually curious and not making some type of allegation about motives or patriotism. I may think opponents of the war are dead wrong in their analysis, but I don't think that 95% of them are insincere in their belief they are right and advocating policies better for America (or, inasmuch as there are pitifully few details about what they'd actually do regarding the war, are opposed to policies they think are bad for America). Oh, the hard core Left that gets the most coverage and speaks the loudest surely wants us to lose in their thirst for power, but I retain faith that they are a minority of a minority. I think they will be disappointed even more with a Democratic House or Senate.

Oh, and how will the press report the reaction of the jihadi fans?

UPDATE: Congratulations to all those who are happy and sleepy from staying up to watch Congressional returns.

I actually hope that our election holds another lesson for those who are watching overseas. You won't see tanks moving through our capital to keep the president's party in control. You won't see waves of refugees fleeing the new regime. You won't see a lot of things that we in America assume won't happen when we have elections.

The losers pack their bags and the winners move in. As anumber of people overseas rejoice in the president's defeat, I hope that in the end they notice that he did lose. And he did nothing to halt it outside of our laws. The president lost, he accepted it, and he moved on. This is one of the blessings of democracy and rule of law.

Elections aren't about putting a facade of legality on a continuing dictatorship. It is about the losers having the right and ability to win in the next election. This is what we have done. And we all assume that in two years there will be another free election. That's how it works. So rejoice in democracy even if you can't rejoice in the results.

My hope is that Iraqis in particular see this as what a normal democracy does and work to build this.

My bigger hope is that Iranians will be awe struck about how true democracy works and want it very much.

My grandest hope is that our expectations become the expectations of many more people in the Middle East.