Writing a new story: the run-off election

I think people (by which I mean the press) underestimate the importance of writing a new story in Afghanistan.  Instead of business as usual, Karzai is acknowledging voter fraud and entering a run-off election.  Obama gets a lot of the credit for this.  While this may not seem like a big deal here, America’s reputation in the Middle East has two large stains.  The first, as everyone knows, is our uncritical support for Isreal.  This perception will probably persist even if we do pressure significant concessions out of Isreal, it’s ingrained in the Palestinian story.  But the other stain is that America supports repressive Arab and middle-eastern regimes, prizing stability and oil over the rights of the local people.  By pressuring Karzai, who we clearly want to stay in charge, into participating in the full democratic process, we are signalling that things really are different.  And, we stand favorably against the story of Iran.