Just before the Labor Day weekend, Fox released a poll that provides evidence of just how far the American people have come — and how wide is the gap between Obama and the public. What is surprising is that the subject is Iraq.

Did we do the right thing by going to war with Iraq? Fifty-eight percent say yes, while only 35 percent say no.  This is a reversal of several years’ worth of survey data. A stunning 71 percent, including 58 percent of Democrats, think the Iraqi people are better off because of the war. Is the U.S. and the world safer? Again, 58 percent say yes. Who do they give credit for the success? Fifty-four percent say George W. Bush, only 19 percent say Obama. Did Obama give Bush enough credit in last Tuesday’s speech? A significant plurality (38 to 15 percent) say no. Independents by a 31 to 16 percent margin say Obama didn’t give Bush enough credit. (By the way, Obama gave Bush no credit — he merely said Bush loved the troops.) The poll is no outlier — NBC’s survey shows 53 percent think the war was a success; only 43 percent say it is not.

Well, Obama and the rest of the left must be chagrined to find out that — after years of running down the war effort (in fact declaring it a lost cause), inciting the public to oppose it, and vilifying the president who launched the war and made success possible — the majority of the country disagrees with them. As for Bush, this is vindication much sooner perhaps than any of us imagined. He refused to bend to the howls  and to give up on the Iraqi people. He didn’t care if it made him unpopular for a time — and it did. He knew that defeat was unacceptable and that success — a stable, democratic, pro-Western Iraq — would be a historic achievement. And it is. The president has been quiet for nearly two years, waiting for events to play out and history to render its verdict. At this point, he deserves a victory lap and the appreciation of the American people.

Provided Obama “doesn’t screw this up,” Bush and country can rightly say, ” Mission Accomplished.”