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, …
Continue reading Jeb Bush – for now, more appealing than appalling
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. …
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 …
Continue reading Presidential race will thwart progress in Congress
It's great fun to see two outstanding Boston Globe opinion writers going at a subject hammer and tong, in total disagreement about the Olympics, Boston 2024 and the psychic state of the organizers as well as that of the people of Massachusetts. Joan Vennochi does a surgical rearrangement of John Fish, the driving force behind …
Continue reading Globe columnists duel over Boston Olympics bid
There's no doubt that Hillary Clinton will be the most experienced Presidential wannabe in either party - when she announces her candidacy. But the lead-up to her announcement has been dogged by missteps and reminders of why people don't want the Clintons back in the White House. Her baggage piles up every week. While most of …
So Benjamin Netanyahu shamelessly and successfully pandered to Israeli right-wing voters in Tuesday's election. A politician playing to base emotions and lying to get elected, then changing positions again. How unusual. The hard Right is pleased by his victory and so is the hard Left. And so, too, Israelis and Palestinians who don’t believe the …
Continue reading Dirty little secret about hopes for Israel/ Palestine peace
Former Governor Deval Patrick seems to have caught on that the optics of his $7500 per day pay (plus expenses) for serving as a globe-trotting ambassador for Boston2024's summer Olympics proposal might not play in some future bid for the Presidency or even a U.S. Supreme Court seat. Nor was it helpful when Boston Mayor Marty Walsh, an enthusiastic Olympics booster, raised …
Close your eyes for a moment and hear the refrain of Aquarius by The Fifth Dimension, "let the sun shine, let the sun shine, the sun shine in." Consider it the anthem for this week: Sunshine Week. It has nothing to do with the fact that we're back on daylight savings time, this Friday is the first …
Viewed in isolation, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's speech to Congress last week was masterful. It projected superficial respect for President Obama (if you overlook his trashing the negotiation process to date and speaking to Congress in the midst of the Iranian talks) and expressed appreciation for everything the Obama Administration has done in Israel's …
Continue reading Iran – another “red line” in Obama foreign policy?
The Republicans may be in a snit about President Obama's initiative on Cuba, but polls show that 55-60 percent of Americans favor his efforts to create a new beginning in our relationship. And that makes sense. But normalization won't happen quickly. Since 2009, scholars in both countries have been exploring ways to normalize relations. Some call …
Continue reading Cuban impressions, pt. 5 – Normalizing U.S. / Cuban relations
Marjorie Arons-Barron 