Assuming the Bush administration remains reasonably resolute -- an almost foregone conclusion -- things seem more or less likely to work out more or less OK in Iraq. That is to say, more-or-less-democratic-minded Iraqis will take charge of the government, as the United States steps farther and farther back; whereupon we can move on to the next challenge.

The quest for perfect solutions in human affairs is an all-too-human preoccupation: one that dooms humans to the perpetual frustration that proceeds from hopes less than perfectly realized.

"If only ... !" we keep exclaiming. It doesn't work that way, least of all in democracies, where the perpetual clamor for a piece of the action excludes the prospect of completely logical outcomes.

The high-energy Bush bashing that is the most conspicuous feature of our times obscures certain realities, such as the exquisite difficulty of getting things done in a democratic setting. Louis XIV and Richelieu wouldn't have let things get to this. Nor would an American Saddam.

The American quest to install democracy in Iraq (and thus increase the comfort level of non-Iraqis) deserves much more than the abuse it receives from many of those now exercising their democratic right to abuse and second-guess and poor-mouth.

Well, that's life. So is heroic endurance of the sort the Bush administration exhibits in the face of those democrats who seem to think the present Middle East has all the democracy it needs or deserves.