"You don't suppose that cowboy could have been right all along, do you?"

That horrified question is lodging mischievously in scores of millions of brains around the world. Few people are saying it out loud, but it is on the tips of tongues.

The degree to which the Iraqi elections have changed things is simply stunning. A week ago, the worldwide consensus was that the insurgents were on the move, had the initiative. The American side needed a new strategy. Military leaders and other American officials said that publicly, for quotation. They couldn't get in trouble for saying it, because it was so obvious.

Now that seems like an era ago. Now the insurgents are sucking wind, or worse.

True, they might be back. Nevertheless, democracy in Iraq is looking now not like a gleam in some naive zealot's eye, but like a gestated baby demanding to be born.
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For some people, this is all disorienting, simply because they have always assumed that Bush is bad guy. For them, the invasion was about Halliburton, vengeance, getting re-elected or oil, whatever he said. To see some of the stuff he said being borne out makes no sense, because, they think, he didn't even mean it.
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But that election in Iraq Sunday! My goodness. It had to scare some non-democrats in the Mideast who could use a good scare. And it had to inspire others who pine for democracy.

Sure, this is just another stage in a long, long process. Still, the thought won't go away: Maybe the cowboy knew something.

--Martin Gottlieb - Dayton Daily News