Who Gets To Play Ben Franklin?

My students are taking their pre-test, so I thought I'd check out the news.  AP:

President Bush is using a visit to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, birthplace of the U.S. Constitution, as a reminder before the Iraqi elections that the path to American democracy was not always easy either.

Pennsylvania also is the home state of a leading Iraq war critic, Democratic Rep. John Murtha, who planned to speak on Bush's heels and repeat his call to bring the troops home from a fight he says has become too violent and out of control.

Murtha, a hawkish former Marine, has galvanized war critics and been an outspoken counterpoint to Bush's portrayal of success in Iraq. Since Murtha first called for troop withdrawal last month, the president has talked more openly about difficulties in Iraq in a series of speeches leading up to Thursday's election.

Iraqis are preparing to vote under tight security to elect a 275-member parliament that will run the country for the next four years. The election will be the first under the new constitution ratified in an October 15 referendum and will complete the steps toward democratization following the ouster of Saddam Hussein's government.

A couple questions:

1. How can the Iraqis be like our Founders, who revolted against tyranny and weren't "liberated" by a foreign power?
2. If our goal was to establish democracy in Iraq, and this election is the final step, why can't our troops come home?

I'll be teaching until about 4PM every day ('cept Friday), and I have a bunch of work to do at night--it's exam week at Champlain, course development for Hill, and a demo I need to build for our company meeting--so blogging will be spotty at best.

ntodd

PS--And what to make of the latest poll showing most Iraqis want us to, you know, leave?