| | Peggy Noonan is a brilliant writer, a pleasure to read. You will enjoy reading the article from which I quoted her above. She was, of course, Reagan's most celebrated speechwriter. But the problem with Noonan's polish is that it comes with a cynical view of politics. Politics is, for her, as it is with many eloquent moderates such as David Gergen, essentially a horse race. Principle plays second fiddle to form. Obama isn't really wrong, he's just "boring." If only he were nicer to Republicans, maybe he could be more "productive." Politics is all about the gray. "But because they are extreme, they become controversial, and because they are controversial, they become ineffective. In its way the system works." The well-packaged, highly polished, middle-of-the road . . . gray.
I love reading Peggy Noonan for the same reason I love reading that glib Nixon speechwriter, Pat Buchanan. For a moment you can let the well-crafted and soothing tones waft over you. Then the meaning or the lack thereof hits you, like acid reflux after a gourmet meal.
Peggy Noonan recently went off on Sarah Palin whom she did not at all oppose on substance (they hold the exact same views) but on form. Palin is "ambitious" and "out of her depth" and "not thoughtful enough to know she is not thoughtful enough." Well, maybe. But those qualities of stately moderation and the appearance of thoughtfulness that so appeal to moderates and the press (think Dukakis, think Dole) have little resonance with voters and provide a politician with little power to resist those with an opposing agenda if he does reach office. (Think "read my lips" G. H. W. Bush.)
With Noonan's solicitous advice to Obama on how he could succeed (if only he would listen to her words) and with Noonan's vicious attacks on a woman who actually does hold her apparent religious and political principles (but who doesn't employ Noonan) one wonders if perhaps professional jealousy trumps common ideology. After all, Noonan worked for a president who was universally described as an unread, unintellectual, and unthinking, and it didn't seem to bother her then.
Maybe Noonan's horse-racism stems from her Catholic faith. In the long run, only the afterlife matters - so what matters on earth is not principle so much as an ability not to offend. Or maybe Noonan is a pleasure to behold in the same way that predatory cats are. In either case, while I do enjoy her words, I do not trust her motives.
(Edited by Ted Keer on 9/04, 9:56pm)
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But the great mass of Americans, the big center, will, I strongly suspect, not be listening. Mr. Obama has grown boring. And it's not Solid Boring, which is fine in a president and may be good. It's sort of Faux Eloquent Boring, especially on health care. The president likely doesn't know this, and his people won't have told him because they don't know it either, but Mr. Obama always has the same sound, approach, logic, tone, modulation. He always has the same stance. There's no humor or humility in it. News is surprise, and he never makes news.
