Andew Young Leaves His Old Boss in the Dust

With the news that Iraq's elections were more peaceful than many expected, we should continue to assess the opposition -- in America. John Kerry's shameful post-election behavior continued, with his comments to Tim Russert that, in effect, the elections were illegitimate. "No one in the United States should try to overhype [sic] this election," he said, adding "It's hard to say that something is legitimate when a whole portion of the country can't vote and doesn't vote." According to NewsMax, he again displayed his famous capacity for flip-flopping:

When things in Iraq have settled down and thoughtful people can look back to the nation's rebirth, an account will be taken of just who befriended the Iraqi people, and who cynically hoped to keep them in chains so as to harm the Bush administration. Since this is a day of celebration for the Iraqi's newfound freedoms, let's not that, among those who've rooted for the right side is former Atlanta mayor Andrew Young, who has stood out as a supporter of the administration's policies toward Iraq, and as a staunch ally of Condoleezza Rice. In his recent public statements, Young seems a veritable elder statesman when compared with his shrinking former boss, Jimmy Carter. If the men shared a worldview in 1976, only one of them has resisted all efforts to learn in the intervening decades.

In this morning's AJC, Young writes:

And:

He aims this blunt statement at his fellow Democrats: "We have just lost an election being negative."

Young stood by Condi Rice during her nomination process, and he was recognized by President Bush for his steadfast refusal to take the easy route by joining his fellow Democrats, along with too much of the leadership of the African American community, in pummeling her and the war in Iraq.

When Young was mayor of Atlanta, and especially when he served as U.N. Ambassador under Jimmy Carter, he was often controversial and adversarial in ways that harmed America's diplomatic efforts. At the U.N. he often issued virulently anti-America statements, supported Soviet-backed "liberation" movements in the Third World, and helped create the international personality cult that surrounded Yasser Arafat. Today, however, he has taken a stand for democracy in Iraq, and meritocracy at home. For that, he deserves gratitude from his domestic foes on the right, and emulation by his erstwhile allies on the left. If Andrew Young can come around on these questions, what's stopping other Democrats from doing a little growing up themselves?