It was quite a scene. To see the likely Prime Minister of Iraq, Ibrahim Al-Ja`fari, tell the press that Grand (not really) Ayatollah Sistani has "blessed" his candidacy is to be reminded of the new government emerging in Iraq. This is the same government that Bush and Thomas Friedman thought was going to become a model for the Arab world. I am not sure that an Ayatollah government will emerge as a model for the (predominantly Sunni) region.