Maxwell School News and Commentary

“No one’s ever lost an election on the deficit or the debt,” says Grant Reeher, professor of political science. “If the economy continues to rebound more strongly and voters start focusing on what they are getting out of the tax cut, that can be a powerful combination. To me, it’s not clear that we are headed for the [Democratic] tidal wave that some folks are predicting.”

"Although the U.S. and Israel claim they favor a peaceful settlement and the eventual creation of a Palestinian state through negotiations, their actions ensure that it will not be achieved," says Osamah Khalil, associate professor of history.

"When I hear her, I hear consistency. I don't hear opportunism," says Grant Reeher, professor of political science, about Senator Gillibrand's calls for President Trump's resignation following sexual harassment allegations.

"She [Senator Kirsten Gillibrand] has been a leading spokesperson in the chamber for women’s issues and women’s rights and it’s not surprising to me at all that she would be one of the first Democrats to call out Sen. Franken and when the conversation inevitably turned to him, President Clinton," says Grant Reeher, professor of political science and director of the Campbell Public Affairs Institute.

"It needs to be a national effort," says Bill Smullen, director of the national security studies program. "There are a lot of people in civilian clothes who have ill feelings toward Iraqi military and government. It is nationwide. That’s the way they need to think of it—a national effort in all places, all ways and all times."

"In this instance, the negative reaction President Trump has generated throughout the Western World may complicate the situation," says Grant Reeher, director of the Campbell Public Affairs Institute. "Being Trump's ambassador, say, in Norway or Denmark, is going to be trickier than in past administrations, requiring greater skill and deftness."

"What Trump is trying to get the Palestinian authority to realize is that if they want an independent state and peace, then they are going to have to do it within Israel, whose capital happens to be in Jerusalem," says Miriam Elman, associate professor of political science.