When the Senate voted unanimously to confirm the sainted Lt. Gen. David Petraeus as commander of the U.S. forces in Iraq in January, I wonder how many of them were aware of this Op-Ed piece he had written earlier in The Washington Post:

I see tangible progress. Iraqi security elements are being rebuilt from the ground up. The institutions that oversee them are being reestablished from the top down. And Iraqi leaders are stepping forward, leading their country and their security forces courageously … There are reasons for optimism … Training is on track and increasing in capacity. Infrastructure is being repaired … Progress has also been made in police training … Iraqi security forces are developing steadily and they are in the fight.

This evaluation, worthy of Joe Lieberman, was not only totally wrong, it was written in October 2004, just days before President Bush’s reelection, by a prominent general who apparently saw nothing improper in putting his name on a campaign document just before the presidential election.

I can recall no mention of the piece in the days leading up to Petraeus’ 81-0 confirmation vote. It was unearthed the other day by political columnist Dick Polman of the Philadelphia Inquirer and reprinted in a media column in today’s Washington Post.

“Pretty encouraging, right? Any swing voter who read that piece might well have concluded that it would be nuts to dump Bush and elect John Kerry, what with the Iraqis so poised to take responsibility for their own security,” writes Polman.

The cheerleading article, published in the newspaper where these 81 senators work and where they employ large staffs to help them cast informed votes, never came up when the 81 were considering, but certainly not debating, Petraeus’ appointment.

The 81 included Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, Joe Biden and Chris Dodd, all of whom are now presumably awaiting Petraeus’ September report before deciding what to do next about Iraq.

“Given Petraeus’ rhetorical track record,” writes Polman, “and his apparent willingness, back in 2004, to inject himself into the middle of a domestic partisan campaign, why should we have confidence that in September he’ll say anything that would deviate from the White House line?”

And why, Senators, should we have confidence that you will be any smarter in September than you were in January?