The criteria for the Presidential Medal of Freedom, by law, is supposed to go to those who have made "an especially meritorious contribution to the security or national interests of the United States, world peace, cultural or other significant public or private endeavors." As Charles Lane, Washington Post journalist, notes, her record does not support the award.Of the 588 Presidential Medals of Freedom given out since 1963, only 28 have gone to non-U.S. citizens -- less than 5 percent of the total. The bar is, and should be, a little higher for foreigners. Minor figures have slipped through (former NATO secretary-general Manlio Giovanni Brosio, for example). But for the most part, foreign recipients have been substantial people: Mother Teresa, Jacques Cousteau, Aung San Suu Kyi.President George W. Bush pushed the limits of consensus a bit by including Tony Blair and Alvaro Uribe of Colombia, both disliked on the left. But neither was as polarizing as Robinson will be. Like...(Read Full Post)