Dem strategist: How To Stop the Next Witch Hunt

Robert Mueller last month concluded the nation’s third major probe into a presidency, and it’s now “crystal clear that the important process of holding presidents accountable needs an overhaul,” writes Mark Penn at Foxnews.com The author, who defended Bill Clinton during the Starr probe, says the processes are rife with abuse and bias against the chief executive. To “curb their excesses,” Penn calls for limiting the information used to initiate probes to “regular intelligence sources, not extra-legal channels”; restricting the use of intelligence courts to obtain warrants; and “requiring confirmation by the Senate” for the counsels. Bottom line: Presidential probes must ensure “the fairness and due process that are the hallmarks of American justice and democracy.”

From the left: The Damage Done by ‘Collusion’ Hysteria

Russiagate skeptics shouldn’t gloat, writes Stephen Cohen at The Nation, “but what about the legions” of senior spooks, politicians and journalists who “perpetuated, inflated, and prolonged this unprecedented political scandal in American history?” The damage wrought by this crowd is great, indeed. Their overheated claims “were aimed at the president but hit the presidency itself, degrading the institution.” Collusion hysteria also undermined the credibility of the media, “a foundational institution of American democracy,” and it allied one of the two major parties, the Democrats, with the “outlandish excesses of the Resistance.’” In short, “the institutional costs of Russiagate are likely to be with us” for a long time.

Political scribe: Mayor Pete’s 2020 Bid Gathers Steam

“South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg is having a moment,” observes Jessica Tarlov at Real Clear Politics “Actually, he’s been having a bunch of moments all over your TVs and on social media for about a month now. The youngest mayor of a major US city, a veteran of the Afghanistan war, a Rhodes Scholar and openly gay, Buttigieg brings an intriguing mix to the 2020 Democratic primaries. And pollsters have noticed: The latest Quinnipiac survey shows “a substantial jump from 1 percent support to 4 percent, which ties him with Sen. Elizabeth Warren for fifth place behind former Vice President [Joe] Biden, Sen. Bernie Sanders, Beto O’Rourke and Sen. Kamala Harris.” But Buttigieg has an Achilles heel: He faces a Democratic Party awash in identity politics, and his sexuality notwithstanding, he gets lumped “with the rest of the ‘white guys’ (Beto, Biden and Bernie).” And that’s too bad, argues Tarlov, because “it’s a mistake to let a broad brush backlash against white men swallow Mayor Pete up with it.”

Culture critic: Let Grandma and Grandpa Care for Kids

“Intergenerational care” is an idea whose time has come, says Andrew Sullivan in New York magazine It’s “day care for old and young” and a win-win for both: “Seniors have the time and patience for kids that harried parents often don’t. And young children often delight in the company of the old and can learn from them.” Kids receive attention from the elderly, while the latter recover the “dignity” of old age, instead of being cooped up in lousy senior homes. Then, too, “there is an odd equality to the relationship between the very young and the very old.” It lies in the ability to “to see in one another the end and the beginning of life.” This symmetry, says Sullivan, “gives each perspective and respect as well as mutual curiosity — and the time to explore it.”

Foreign desk: Israel Has Every Right To Rule Golan

Critics have suggested that President Trump’s recognition of Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights will scuttle future peace deals in the region, notes Vivian Bercovici at Commentary Perhaps, but all that is “diversionary noise” next to the question of international law. “Since WWII, the accepted understanding of international law that involves territorial loss during conflict is quite straightforward,” Bercovici writes. “The attacking nation may not retain permanently land acquired as a result of armed conflict.” But territory acquired in self-defense is another matter, and Syria’s repeated and unprovoked attacks against Israel mean it has forfeited the Golan. It’s a cruel but necessary principle: “There are consequences to military attacks, particularly when the attacker loses.”

— Compiled by Sohrab Ahmari