Despite my own reluctant support for the Iraq war on what one might call Friedmanic grounds, I suspect that Tom over at FunctionalAmbivalent is mistaken to worry overmuch about President Bush's going down in history as a "great" president due to the potentially positive shake-up that it may currently be producing in the Middle East. The sad truth of the matter is that the price we're paying even today -- a price that's only likely to increase over time -- for this administration's bumbling pre-war diplomacy, as well as its utterly feckless refusal to properly plan for a successful postwar occupation, will make any future initiative to carve this president's visage into Mount Rushmore a rather tendentious affair, to say the least.

As I've said before, I truly do wish this president the best -- after all, it's my country, too -- and I sincerely hope that at some point we will all be able to look back and say that, on balance, this militarily and morally messy expedition was a net plus for the country. But that's really the best that we can hope for at this point. And that just ain't the stuff of presidential greatness, I'm afraid.