Keep on the sunny side, always on the sunny side ...

sh talk publicly about the Hamas victory in Palestine, Jules Witcover likens him to an optimistic little boy who sees a big old pile of poop and says, "There must be a pony in there somewhere." Looking for a pony in Palestine Tribune Media Services 01/29/06:

But speaking from a reality-based perspective, Witcover writes:

Defenders of the war in Iraq like to say that the road to peace between the Palestinians and the Israelis runs through Baghdad, meaning success in defeating the insurgency in Iraq is a necessary prerequisite. But now more than ever, the American engagement in Iraq seems more a detour toward that objective.

With Israeli President Ariel Sharon incapacitated and new Israeli elections two months off, what happens in this other corner of the Middle East will be posing least as much of a dilemma for U.S. policy as Bush's troubled democracy-building effort in Iraq.

Bush optimistically reaffirmed his commitment to an independent Palestine along with democratic Israel as the solution to the region's long-term conflict. But the Hamas electoral victory, however it is cast by the American president, has dug a huge pothole in the so-called "road map" to that objective.

But, gosh, what would Victor Davis Hanson say?