Now that's a dilemma

For the last 5 years we've heard two overriding themes, again and again and again:

1. Democracy good.
2. Terrorism bad.

So what happens when 1 results in 2? When a democratic nation has a democratic election that results in a terrorist organization being in control of their government?

The Palestinians just elected the Hamas into office in overwhelming numbers. The people of that country have put the Hamas in power.

The United States and the European Union have declared the Hamas to be a terrorist organization. Condelezza Rice has said that we will not deal with the Hamas unless they agree to lay down arms. I'm not sure what the EU has said.

A surprise!

I started writing this earlier today, before the State of the Union address. I have to admit to being pleased by what GW had to say about this situation. Essentially he said that they're going to have to recognize Israel. Earlier in the week, Rice stated our position: they need to agree to lay down arms in order for us to deal with them.

Anyway, pleasure aside, what do you do in a situation like this? We preach and preach and preach about democracy. This was a totally democratic election. And the people elected the Hamas.

So then what does the party line become? "We support democracies and democratic elections, as long as we approve of those elected"?

I'm not saying it's easy.

It's a dilemma.