Negativism amidst Iraqi Jubilation

Tim Russert interviewed John Kerry on Meet the Press today. You can hear and read the disappointment, if not anger, that the election was an unprecedented success.
Here is a portion of the interview shown here with my own inciteful opinion (parenthetically) of what Sen. Kerry seemed to be thinking:

MR. RUSSERT: Election day, Iraq. Condoleezza Rice, the new secretary of State, has just told the United States and the world, "It has gone better than expected." What is your sense?

SEN. KERRY: I think it's gone as expected (dammit!). I think it was a good report by Brian (dammit!). I think it starkly lays out the challenges, Tim. Let me begin, if I can, by saying first of all I was just there a few weeks ago (trying to counter Bush's efforts). I think our troops today deserve yet again a thanks and a word of praise from everybody. They are at extraordinary risk. They're doing a remarkable job, (dammit) and I want to give them that credit.

Secondly, it is significant that there is a vote in Iraq (dammit!). But no one in the United States or in the world-- and I'm confident of what the world response will be(it's no big deal). No one in the United States should try to overhype this election(because it will hurt the dems). This election is a sort of demarcation point, and what really counts now is the effort to have a legitimate political reconciliation(Bush must admit he was wrong and needs to give more credit to France, Germany and the U.N.), and it's going to take a massive diplomatic effort and a much more significant outreach to the international community than this administration has been willing to engage in. Absent that, we will not be successful in Iraq (unless the U.N. is put in charge of this operation).

MR. RUSSERT: Do you believe this election will be seen by the world community as legitimate?

SEN. KERRY: (No! Not until the U.N. and the international community are more involved in what goes on there) A kind of legitimacy--I mean, it's hard to say that something is legitimate when a whole portion of the country can't vote and doesn't vote (even though the turn out was as large as the turn out for our election). I (don't) think this election was important. I was(not) for the election taking place. You may recall that back in--well, there's no reason you would--but back in Fulton, Missouri, during the campaign, I laid out four steps, and I said at the time, "This may be the president's last chance to get it right (and he did, dammit!)."

It must suck to be on the left!