Hoping for Failure. Bush is seldom given credit for it but he is a long-term planner. His election strategy has been to leave a Republican majority in Congress after his tern ends. In Iraq, he hopes to replace a repressive dictatorship which threatened Arab stability with a functioning democracy. If he succeeds then we will all be safer. This would be a good thing. Today's election was a big step in that direction.

So how do the Democrats respond? Ted Kennedy already called for a complete pull-out by the end of the year. An unconditional pullout would certainly lead to civil war.

The Daily Kos has this to say:

This Election is simply, in my estimation, an exercise in pretty pictures. Why? Because Elections are to choose governments, not to celebrate the day. Are the people elected capable of governing Iraq at this time? Without 150,000 U.S. soldiers? Or even with them? I have been accused of gloating by people right HERE because of my focus on the continuing violence. But my focus has been on the realities of governing a land in chaos, in the midst of civil war, with 150,000 U.S. soldiers the only force with the ability to provide security. And this is 2 years after the invasion. A week before the election, an Alternet columnist proclaimed This Election is No Good and The Election Cul-de-sac.

"The Americans and Allawi insisted on having these elections to prove they are in control of Iraq," said an unnamed guerrilla leader. "We intend to prove them wrong. The resistance will intensify after the elections and will never cease until the American occupiers leave Iraq."

So the forthcoming poll will likely provide another example of the cure proving to be worse than the disease.

The Center for American Progress says

True to its record, the Bush administration seems more concerned with how Iraq's election is perceived than with its execution or legitimacy. As the White House spins away and prepares to once again claim that "freedom is on the march," it's worth remembering the facts.

Most of these were written before the election but the message is clear. They are hoping for failure. They would rather see Bush fail than see Iraq succeed.

For balance, Lean-Left has some good things to say about Iraqis who voted in defiance of death threats.

UPDATE: John Kerry has some bad things to say about the election:

The failed presidential candidate questioned the historic referendum's legitimacy, saying, "It's hard to say that something is legitimate when a whole portion of the country can't vote and doesn't vote."

Kerry also pooh-poohed reports of a surprisingly high 72 percent turnout by Iraqi voters, insisting instead that the election has "gone as expected."

As was always he case during the campaign, Kerry does not offer any ideas for how the election coul have gone better, only critisism of Bush's handling. (To be fair, after the election, Kerry did give some specifics for how Iraq could have been handled better. These had already been dismissed by experts which is probably why he waited.)