Middle East

The President's speech on Monday was serious, and in my opinion very good. Do note that it is now vividly clear and official that Arafat and the Palestinian Authority are terrorists. He is, of course, right. Although he has given Arafat innumerable opportunities to change his ways, he has not. This is the start of a serious—and altogether new—peace effort that will not only make sure Israel survives, but tries to get the Palestinians to be more democratic and decent. Hard work will follow, and it will take a couple of years. But it is also clear to me that the Administration has gotten all kinds of OK's from the so-called international community. Also note that Bush continues to give the green light to Israel to stay engaged militarily and continue to clean the place out.

George Will, Michael Kelly, Rich Lowry, and David Brooks understand the implications of Bush's policy: The Palestinians will have to earn statehood; it is not good enough just to set up another Middle East gangster state and then sit back and watch it tyrannize over its own people and act similarly to its neighbors. Also, this policy has the potential of not only forming a decent Palestinian state, but of reforming other Arab regimes. Furthermore, this is a serious policy that will take years to implement; it is not a gimmicky solution and the start of another "process." And, last word, it is most definitely connected to the change of regimes demanded by Bush both in Iraq and Iran.

Politics

Although there are many more reasons why Democrat Senators will not become President than are noted in this David Broder column, his piece is worth reading to note some institutional reasons why only Harding and Kennedy went from the Senate to the White House.

Harvard's President

It is interesting to note that the president of Harvard University, Larry Summers (Clinton's Secretary of the Treasury), has shown signs of being a serious person. Imagine a president of Harvard who enthusiastically sings the Star-Spangled Banner, talks about excellence, praises the ROTC program, and asks everyone (back in October) to honor those who defend our freedom. I understand that he also wants to do something about the notorious grade inflation at Harvard. This happy news could get more and more interesting.

Higher Education

Although it is not news to me, note this article from the Washington Post concerning the gender gap that exists among college students: 57% of the students in colleges are women. It is interesting that we have actually made college unfriendly to males, (although how and why isn't much talked of in the article) and, there will be ill consequences down the line. Notice the even larger differences among Hispanics and Blacks. Not good news.

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