Articles

From Saigon to Hanoi  

Get To Know: Tom McEnery, Hillbrook Grandparent and Former San Jose Mayor  

Saigon: the Second Look  

Saigon: The Original  

By Tom McEnery The evocative and heartfelt endorsements of Sen. Ted Kennedy and Caroline Kennedy for the Barack Obama candidacy came as no surprise in one small town. It is perhaps the only place in the world with a statue of Bill Clinton, testimony to his help with a big issue there. This town that sits on the western tip of Ireland is Ballybunion, and the statue is a salute to the long efforts of an American president to create peaceand hope for many. That was then, this is now. There, beside the mouth of the mighty Shannon River, the … Continue reading →

By  Tom McEnery   Taking on an entrenched and popular incumbent is a dubious prospect for any Democrat, at any time, but courageous and thoughtful people in the Democratic Party — from President Bill Clinton to a young Gov. Pat Brown — have tried and succeeded. This year, in California, there is a difference. The Democratic gubernatorial nominee, state Treasurer Phil Angelides, is no Clinton. He is no Pat Brown. In this sort of election, in which a relatively unknown challenger takes on a well-known incumbent, a couple of things are supposed to happen following a fractious primary — namely, … Continue reading →

CALIFORNIA By Kevin Starr Kevin Starr is University Professor of History at USC and California state librarian emeritus. His most recent book is “Coast of Dreams: California on the Edge, 1990-2003.” Less than a year and a half after California’s historic recall election, Sacramento’s wastelands are littered with the bleached bones of legislators and pundits who, unable to move beyond a cliche-ridden dismissal of a bodybuilder-movie-star-turned-governor, have underestimated the raw intelligence and honed intellect of the Austrian immigrant at California’s helm. To examine the intellect of Arnold Schwarzenegger is to seek to discern the influences that have shaped — and continue … Continue reading →

A former mayor of San Jose imagines Silicon Valley with a little more Hart in its world. By Tom McEnery / Edited by Jenny Desai There had never been a New Year’s celebration like it in anyone’s memory. Well, perhaps old Martin Murphy’s 50th anniversary party in 1881 came close, but today was very, very special. Every national media outlet was on hand: ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, CNN, and all the rest, as well as the foreign press. It was like a combination of millennium events, the opening of the Golden Gate Bridge, and a Super bowl party all rolled into … Continue reading →

If Woody Allen was right, and 80 percent of success is just showing up, then Gray Davis’ other 20 percent has cost Californians dearly. While his popularity crashes to unheard-of new lows, the state wallows in fiscal chaos. Yes, our Legislature is locked in bipartisan inertia, but we have the same confidence in it to resolve the budget woes that we would in teenage boys to avoid girls and strong spirits. No, it is the governor whom we trust to be prudent, if not wise. In this hope, we have been savagely disappointed. The only bastions of support for this … Continue reading →

Sunday Opinion page By Tom McEnery On a morning very early in 1989, I heard the wail of police sirens as I was finishing a speech at the Fairmont Hotel. As mayor, I was acutely aware of this sound, but this time there seemed to be a confluence of many sirens quite nearby. I hurried over to Fifth and Santa Clara to see what the problem was and much to my dismay, learned that two of our police officers, Gordon Silva and Gene Simpson, had been shot in a gun battle with a deranged man. Simpson died immediately; Silva a few … Continue reading →