Weekend notes: Truman, Christmas, Assad

Truman

If you bothered to read my weekend column in which I compared Bush and Truman - and feel the need to read more about this same subject - this is your lucky week. Coincidentally, a similar comparison was reported in the Washington Post this last Friday.

One of 10 recipients of the Presidential Medal of Freedom Friday (among them, by the way, the Israeli Natan Sharansky) was David McCullough, author of the 1992 best-seller "Truman." Asked by the Post about Bush and Truman he said: "About 50 years has to go by before you can appraise a presidency - the dust has to settle." He did say he sees similarities between Truman and Bush, especially in their capacity to endure "merciless criticism and personal abuse" that he doubts "many of us could take."

Christmas

Readers had many varied opinions about the piece I wrote of the Christmas trees incident in Seattle. I wonder what they'll say about this similar furor in Canada. It is old news there but brought to my attention yesterday. Ontario's premier and several religious groups Thursday slammed a provincial judge's decision to banish the Christmas tree standing in a Toronto courthouse lobby because it might offend non-Christians.

Name of the Judge? Marion Cohen.

Syria

The cat is totally out of the bag now. Why wouldn't the U.S. engage with Syria? National Security Adviser Steve Hadley explained two weeks ago that Israel's Prime Minister Olmert has it right: "I think Prime Minister Olmert said, under those circumstances, with that kind of Syrian policy, how can you talk about negotiating on the Golan Heights? Seems to me that's a sensible position."

Today, it was the other way around. Olmert justified his position referring to the Americans. Now, he said, is not the time to embark on negotiations with Damascus, given that U.S. President George W. Bush is demanding Syrian President Bashar Assad "stop instigating war."