Take a yellow legal pad. Draw a line down the middle. Put Hillary Clinton's pluses on one side and minuses on the other. The symmetry is disturbing. Let's start with the good stuff. I confess to a sense of pride that a fellow alumna of Wellesley College could become the nation's first woman President (as …
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Secrecy tips the case of the Trans-Pacific Partnership
President Obama's proposed trade deal, the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), has me in a quandary. I've long held that free trade benefits everyone in the long run. It's what happens in the short run that can be daunting. Reduce or eliminate barriers to other nations' products and we get the benefit of lower prices and greater selection …
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Globe struggles to balance Olympics coverage
Yesterday the Boston Business Journal revealed some of Boston 2024's duplicity in misrepresenting to the public what it had included in its bid for bringing the Olympics to the Hub. Information the BBJ obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request indicates the bid outlined the need for public funding (and a public authority) for land acquisition …
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Tom Brady’s punishment – Oh, nooooo
I long ago gave up my belief in the Easter bunny. (The rabbits who regularly destroy my garden took care of that.) Santa Claus is a relic of a decades-past childhood. But now, harsh reality demands that I can no longer cling to the idea of Tom Brady, man god. Mr. Perfect. The National Football …
Remembering my mother: a reprise
Three years ago, I wrote about my mother, Mim Myers, who died in 2006 at the age of 93. She's now been gone nine years, and the aching loss is felt no less today. In fact, the meaning of things ephemeral becomes all the more acute with each passing year. There are so many things I …
Civic leadership through robust public dialogue and love of language
At the risk of sounding immodest, I want to share with readers how deeply moved I am to be receiving an honorary doctor of letters from Regis College, a dynamic and growing university in Weston, MA. Last night I was privileged to deliver an address to the hundreds of students receiving master's and doctoral degrees. …
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Newt Gingrich made me weep
Back in the 1990's, new House Speaker Newt Gingrich made me furious with his Contract with America, which critics dubbed the Contract on America. It was an era of slash-and-burn, anti-government GOP ascendancy, when in 1995 the Republican Party took over the House for the first time in 40 years. The victory signaled a more intense fight for smaller government, …
Jeb Bush – for now, more appealing than appalling
Years ago, Barbara Bush is said to have commented that son Jeb was the best politician in the family. That's the side of the former Florida governor that I saw in New Hampshire on Friday morning at the Institute of Politics at St. Anselm College. The hall was filled to overflowing and the boyish looking, …
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Hillary makes it official
The suspense was non-existent. "If" Hillary would run again has been "when" for a very long time. "How" was all that remained to be revealed, and her strategy for announcing was an effective alternative to her 2008 entitled-to-win-it grand opening. No big staged event, with American flags flying and hordes of supporters waving signs. No big speech. …
Presidential race will thwart progress in Congress
Very knowledgeable politicians speaking in Boston last Monday expressed qualified hopes that Congress could actually get something done. They pointed to the recent "doc fix," a remedy for the unrealistic curtailment of Medicare payments to providers. The bill passed by the House and awaiting Senate action even reauthorized CHIP (the children's health plan) and provided some …
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