Overview for David Frum in Print

Older And Wiser?

A Weekly Standard 10th Anniversary Symposium The first issue of The Weekly Standard appeared in September 1995, part way through the Clinton administration, and less than a year after the Republican victory in the congressional elections of 1994. The pressing foreign policy issue of the day was …

Written by David Frum on Monday September 26, 2005

Mulroney Has Much To Be Proud Of

When U.S. President Harry Truman got mad, he would write an angry letter to the person who had offended him, seal it in an envelope, put a stamp on it--and then wait until the next morning and throw it away. Brian Mulroney would have been well advised to try this technique. Instead, he talked and …

Written by David Frum on Saturday September 17, 2005

The Decline Of Old Europe

COLMAR, France--Visiting this charming Alsatian town for a conference on European defense, I tuned into French TV 5 for half an hour on Sunday evening. I caught the final segment of a program called Ripostes, a French-language Crossfirewith three on a side. The topic for debate: "Is the United …

Written by David Frum on Tuesday September 13, 2005

Ignatieff Appeals To Old School Liberals

National Post reader Angelo Zenga generously nominated me for prime minister of Canada in a letter to the editor last week. I appreciate the compliment, but the campaign consultants can quit working on their Power Point sales pitches: I'm not running. Mr. Zenga was responding to the rumours …

Written by David Frum on Tuesday September 6, 2005

Bush May Not Be Able To Escape Storm: Political Careers Can Be Broken On The Shoals Of A Natural Disaster

Hurricane Katrina began as a natural disaster, unleashed a human tragedy, and is rapidly boiling into a political brawl. The worst natural disaster in American history has become an ideological storm, with accusations and counter-accusations flying even before the flooding can be plugged and …

Written by David Frum on Saturday September 3, 2005

A Sunni Hero In Iraq

The new Iraqi constitution is the right answer to the wrong question. As a document, the Iraqi constitution is hard to fault. It is a democratic, federalist document that protects the rights of individuals while acknowledging Iraq's Islamic traditions. But anybody hoping that this new …

Written by David Frum on Tuesday August 30, 2005

Lessons Of The Jean Episode

There's a lot to learn from the Michaelle Jean story. Very little of it is pleasant. But almost all of it is important. First, Canadians have learned some important things about the character of their prime minister, Paul Martin. If Martin's principal secretary Helene Scherrer is to be …

Written by David Frum on Tuesday August 23, 2005

A Master In The Art Of Political Evasion

Modern spin doctors teach clients in trouble a very special kind of non-denial denial: Q: "Did your company dump toxins into Lake Dithers?" A: "I am very proud of my company's environmental record." Q: "Was that you in those photographs frolicking with bikini babes in Bimini?" …

Written by David Frum on Friday August 19, 2005

The Secret Of Gaza

Why is Ariel Sharon evacuating Gaza? It is not because he believes that a decent Palestinian state will emerge after the Israelis withdraw. Nobody believes that. The almost universal consensus among experts on the region is that post- occupation Gaza will become a Mediterranean Somalia: an …

Written by David Frum on Tuesday August 16, 2005

Has Martin Finally Gone Too Far?

"I'm not particularly interested in talking to somebody who wants to break my country up."--Paul Martin, June 23, 2004. - - - Well, that was then. Today, the Prime Minister stands accused of designating just such a somebody to represent the Queen in Canada. Of course, it's possible that …

Written by David Frum on Tuesday August 16, 2005

Once A Prestigious Post, Now A Refuge For Partisans

If there's any one person in Canada entitled to be outraged by the choice of Michaelle Jean as the new governor-general -- and there are many -- it is surely Adrienne Clarkson. Like Clarkson or dislike her, there's no disputing that she was a large figure in Canadian life for more than three …

Written by David Frum on Tuesday August 9, 2005

What We Should Expect From Muslims

Western Muslims feel badly misunderstood. The vast majority of them utterly abhor terrorism against the countries in which they live. And yet they sense suspicion from their fellow citizens. Meanwhile, those fellow-citizens are feeling increasing frustration with their Muslim neighbors. …

Written by David Frum on Sunday July 10, 2005

Reason For Allies To Remain Willing

At a meeting in Washington, DC, about a year ago, a senior Australian defense official looked weary, as well he might. He had arrived in the capital only a few hours before, but already he had met top officials at the Pentagon, Homeland Security and the State Department. This brief lunch at a think …

Written by David Frum on Friday July 8, 2005

The Good News Bush Left Unsaid

Had he wished, President Bush could have filled his entire speech last week with good news from Iraq. He could have cited the latest economic statistics that show the Iraqi economy growing at a 17% annual rate, that unemployment has dropped by as much as one-half, with per capita income …

Written by David Frum on Tuesday July 5, 2005

The Words We Need To Hear On Iraq

The president is going to talk about Iraq again. He's going to have to. The problem is not that his speech Tuesday night failed to quell his critics: No speech could have done that. The problem is that his speech failed to reassure his worried supporters. Those of us who support this …

Written by David Frum on Sunday July 3, 2005

From Supremes, An Illusory "right"

Is Medicare still legal? It is one of the many curiosities of the Supreme Court's recent decision on private health insurance that Canadians do not truly know the answer to that question. "It is emphatically the province and duty of the judicial department to say what the law is." So wrote …

Written by David Frum on Tuesday June 21, 2005

Eutopia Is Dead. What Now?

LUCCA, Italy--Don't let the dateline fool you. I'm not on holiday. On Wednesday, Dutch voters finished off the unwieldy and absurd EU constitution. That afternoon I got a hasty phone call from the organizers of a conference here in Tuscany. I had just published an article arguing that the defeat of …

Written by David Frum on Tuesday June 7, 2005

Marianne Unfaithful

French democracy has blundered its way to the right result. Most of the arguments advanced by the "non" side in Sunday's referendum on the European Union Constitution were exaggerated, misleading, or outright falsehoods. And yet beneath those arguments was a larger truth that will likely also be …

Written by David Frum on Wednesday June 1, 2005

The Meaning Of Memorial Day

Yesterday was Memorial Day in the United States, one of two annual commemorations of the service and sacrifice of the American armed forces. This Memorial Day, there is more sacrifice to remember: 1,647 American fatalities in Iraq, 144 in Afghanistan, and 40 more in other battlefields of the war …

Written by David Frum on Tuesday May 31, 2005

Chirac And Schroeder Get Their Own

George Bush: re-elected. Tony Blair: re-elected. John Howard: re-elected. Meanwhile the two outstanding opponents of the Anglo-American anti-terror alliance, Gerhard Schroeder and Jacques Chirac, are in the pangs of the most humiliating defeat and repudiation in recent European politics. Who says …

Written by David Frum on Tuesday May 24, 2005