Democracy = U.S.-Approved Government

The NY Times reported today that the U.S. and Israel are discussing ways to destabilize the new, Hamas-led Palestinian government in hopes of bringing about a better election that, well, the U.S. and Israel might feel more warm and fuzzy about.  One of the arguments in favor of this approach is that "the election results show[ed] that Hamas won a smaller mandate than previously understood."  Strange rhetoric from a country in which you don't have to actually win the popular vote to be President.  Don't get me wrong - I wasn't sure about the wisdom of the Palestinian people's vote in the last election - electing representatives of a party considered a terrorist organization by a number of countries is a bold choice - but no one has proved that the election was anything other than fair and democratic (I didn't see any articles about ballot stuffing, voter intimidation, or strange biochemical weapons being bandied about).  Shouldn't the Palestinian people get to vote for what they want themselves?  Or should the US and Israel decide what's best for Palestine and the Middle East?  We certainly didn't much care for France's input about our decisions after we went to war in Iraq.