Lawrence Wright on Obama and al-Qaeda

A great post from Wright, beginning with this:

Pity Al Qaeda as it tries to recover from the bursting of the great Bush bubble. Their greatest asset was the polarizing figure of George W. Bush and the almost automatic loathing he elicited throughout the Muslim world. Demonizing America and rallying disaffected Muslims to the cause of international jihad was never so easy. Now the Bush era is passing into history. Americans have powerfully demonstrated the peaceful route to social revolution. Nothing else we have done since 9/11 has made such a profound and favorable impact on peoples who are themselves often buried under repressive regimes with little idea of how to escape their fate. Al Qaeda offered them one model, made of blood and vengeance. Democracy has just presented them with another, comprised of reason and hope.