The View From Here . . .
By Bob Morgan, Jr.

2007 had its share of good and bad developments, but on balance there were considerable reasons for hope.

The biggest story of the year had to be the improvement of the security situation in Iraq. When President Bush announced in January plans for a "surge," he was greeted with considerable scepticism, particularly among Democrats, which was frankly understandable. After all, sectarian violence had increased sharply in the preceding two years, and Iraq seemed to be verging on a civil war. Nor did the bitterly divided central government led by Nouri al-Maliki inspire much confidence.

Nevertheless, under the newly appointed top American commander in Iraq, David Patraeus, the security situation has improved significantly. Civilian casualties have declined sharply as have deaths of United States military personnel. Baghdad has become much safer, oil production has rebounded, and a flow of refugees back to Iraq has begun. While the central government continues to be ineffective, many local officials have made common cause with the Americans against al-Qaeda in Iraq and disruptive elements like rogue cleric Moqtada al-Sadr have been marginalized.

None of this proves that the war in Iraq has been won, and the level of violence remains high. Nevertheless, the improved situation gives support to those who favor continuing involvement in Iraq until the mission is complete.

Meanwhile, the race for the 2008 election heated up in earnest in 2007, partly due to the dysfunctional political schedule which frontloads most of the primaries in January and February, many months before the voting in November.

At this writing, Hillary Clinton appears to have the inside track on the Democratic nomination, while the Republican race is still very wide open, with Rudy Giuliani perhaps having a slight edge, but other candidates very much in contention.

The Democratic party took control of Congress for the first time in twelve years but the practical impact was muted. The party's leaders, Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi, tried hard to cut off funding for the Iraq war, but were repeatedly thwarted. In the end, the De-mocrats had to settle for relatively minor achievements like a raise in the minimum wage and increased fuel efficiency standards.

A troubling story all year, very much highlighted this week, has been the instability in Pakistan, for better or worse a key ally of the United States in the war on terror. Earlier in the year Pakistan's leader, Pervez Musharraf, suspended democratic government for a time. Then came the assassination on Wednesday of the major opposition leader, Benazir Bhutto. One can only hope that Pakistan will move back on to the path to democracy and that elections scheduled for next year will be held.

The economy was generally good overall, with continued economic growth, low unemployment and mostly in-check inflation, although the subprime mortgage crisis and declining dollar tempered some of the enthusiasm.

To end on a happy note, one very salutary note was the discovery of a method to use nonembryonic rather than embryonic stem cells in medical research. This development holds out the promise of removing the ethical issues associated with promising medical advances.

And so it goes, with 2008, a presidential election year, holding out the hope of progress in many areas, but with ample room for worry as well. At a minimum we live in interesting times.

Best wishes for a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year.