The benefits of the truth

Over at the New Republic we find a nugget of truth so basic, I'm ashamed I did not think of it first. I'm happy to jump on the coattails, though. The President has tried to turn Kerry's admission of Iraq going badly as a fact that would turn off our allies if we asked for help. Take it, Noam:

But isn't the reality exactly the opposite? Pretty much every potential ally in the world thinks Iraq was a mistake. As long as that's the case, don't you stand a greater chance of winning them over by acknowledging this rather than treating them like idiots? If I'm France or Russia, I'm going to be much more receptive to a pitch that says, "Look, we know we screwed up, but we need your help so Iraq doesn't become an even bigger problem than it already is." The alternative pitch--"Hey, everything's going great. We'd still do it the same way if we had it to do all over again. Oh, and by the way, would you mind kicking in a few thousand troops?"--doesn't strike me as so compelling.