Democracy kidnapped by free and fair elections

Tom Friedman is really a piece of work. For the past four years he has done nothing but call for democratic elections throughout the Middle East as the only way to peace and prosperity (for Israel) in the region. Then, we get elections which even he agrees were comparatively "free and fair" that resulted in a Hamas government in Palestine and two Hizbollah representatives in the Lebanese government. Today, in his regular column in the NY Times (behind subscription wall), he complains that the evil Islamists have "kidnapped" democracy by winning the elections.

As a result, the post-9/11 democracy experiment in the Arab-Muslim world is being hijacked. Yes, basically free and fair elections were held in Lebanon, the Palestinian territories and Iraq. Yes, millions turned out to vote because the people of the Arab-Muslim world really do want to shape their own futures.

But the roots of democracy are so shallow in these places and the moderate majorities so weak and intimidated that we are getting the worst of all worlds. We are getting Islamist parties who are elected to power...

That's the spirit of democracy, Tom. If your favorites win, democracy is great. If your favorites lose, democracy has been kidnapped.