Hamas Wins

When I turn on the computer, the first thing I do is a quick scan of the news, because my home page is CNN. Then I check Dawn's blog, then my email (though sometimes, I'll admit, I peek at my blog stats before the email).

Today, though, I read the story on CNN, then Allison's blog (she hasn't said anything yet), then Haaretz, then the NY Times story (I guess you can already see where my bias lies: mainstream media, not the left or the right) (though apparently, as I write this, the left hasn't woken up yet).

When I went to bed last night, a slight lead for Fatah was predicted, but no actual majority. At this point it looks like 70 seats or more for Hamas, which is just totally unexpected. I do have to say, and this is perhaps way too theoretical for the real issues at stake, that there's a piece of me that is always pleased when things do not go as predicted, simply because it shows that they, whoever they may be, do not have the control they think they do. That is, that we (the collective we) are not simply sheep.

If I espoused some Middle East orthodoxy, I'm sure I could start spewing soundbites now, about how catastrophic this is, or how vindicating. But instead I'm just kind of astounded--not from any naive underestimation of the support for Hamas or the principles Hamas stands for, but at, well, I'm not quite sure what, maybe at how this renders everything even more uncertain, when everything was already so uncertain.

Hmm, I'd forgotten about The Guardian. They usually offer up thoughtful analysis, and indeed they do. The BBC is good too. I guess I'm not the only one wondering what happens next.