Is Intelligent Design Supposed to Guarantee Perfection?

Jim Holt at the New York Times penned an opinion that rants about the imperfections of life (at least according to Jim Holt) and, like many with a disdain for what they do not understand, made certain to point his finger at who is to blame (at least according to Jim Holt). I gather from his ranting that he does not believe in "intelligent design" and resents others that differ with his belief.

I would agree the world appears to be an imperfect place, but within it's imperfection there also appears to be a lot of joy in life. The peacock is admired for its useless beauty, suffering has made life dear to us and teaches us lessons untold, and though I cannot surmise the reason the recurrent laryngeal nerve was created to be so long, I do know it has worked quite effectively. I have this image in my head of Jim running down the street grabbing people and shouting, "Don't you GET IT? It's all wrong! We're DOOMED! There is NO REASON FOR US TO KEEP GOING!"

OK. There is my imperfect opinion about Jim's imperfect rant.