So dear friends on the Left, what do you say now about President Bush’s Middle East policies? Do you have the guts to admit that he’s having some success? Or are you still so filled with hatred that you would rather see Arab/Muslim peoples continue to live under tyranny? Oh, I forgot. In your muddled belief system, Arabs/Muslims are too primitive to understand democracy – or they just don’t want to adopt the Western world’s corrupt ways. You know what? It no longer matters what you Lefties think.

But let me count the ways in which you Leftists are wrong. Today, Egypt’s President-for-life Hosni Mubarak

…ordered a revision of the country's election laws and said multiple candidates could run in the nation's presidential elections, a scenario Mubarak hasn't faced since taking power in 1981.

The surprise announcement, a response to critics' calls for political reform, comes shortly after historic elections in Iraq and the Palestinian territories, balloting that brought a taste of democracy to the region. It also comes amid a sharp dispute with the United States over Egypt's arrest of one of the strongest proponents of multi-candidate elections.

Please don’t tell me this had nothing to do with the President’s Middle East Initiative. If you do, you’re living in Neverland.

The toppling of Saddam has throw the region’s tyrants into a tizzy. They are all suffering from chronic diarrhea, wondering if they’ll be the next dictator to fall. Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi decided to give up his weapons of mass destruction soon after Saddam’s fall. Saudi Arabia is planning to hold municipal elections – even allowing women to vote. Syria’s tyrants are running around in circles after facing mass protests in Lebanon and a UN resolution demanding the withdrawal of Syrian forces from Lebanon. Most importantly, millions of Afghans and Iraqis voted in democratic elections. Even Palestinians voted, and President Mahmoud Abbas was forced to leave some Arafat cronies out of his new cabinet.

Not bad for a region that was living in the Stone Age. Let us not underestimate these momentous changes. In all human history, has societal evolution ever been easy? Let’s give Bush some credit where credit is due.