Peggy Noonan: Barack Obama and the Runaway Train

dannyboy · #1 (**permalink**) 10-31-2008, 11:30 PM

I like Peggy Noonan. I've always liked her even when I didn't. In other words, I own all her books. I love the way that she writes. I disagree with her mightily on things. But I also thought that her book, "What I Saw At the Revolution" was a flat-out wonderful book.

Anyway, she wrote this column, which isn't really an endorsement of Barack Obama, although some conservatives are saying it is such. It is just so well written, and actually does speak to me on a few levels, that I wanted to post it.

Declarations - WSJ.com

Here are the things that I particularly liked about the column. When she was laying out the arguments for Obama, she wrote:

Quote:

A great moment: When the press was hitting hard on the pregnancy of Sarah Palin's 17-year-old daughter, he did not respond with a politically shrewd "I have no comment," or "We shouldn't judge." Instead he said, "My mother had me when she was 18," which shamed the press and others into silence. He showed grace when he didn't have to.

That was actually a fairly defining moment in the campaign for me, so I appreciated her pointing it out. I know, some are going to say that Obama surrogates continued to harp on this, but really, not so much. Maybe the blogosphere or the MC-osphere did, but the Obama campaign?

I remember hearing Obama's remarks and thinking, "that is grace." There are always points in an election that turn a supporter from being just an advocate to being a true advocate. For me, that was one such point.

Also, in her column, she said this about McCain:

Quote:

His self-confessed role model for many years was Robert Jordan in Ernest Hemingway's novel of the Spanish Civil War, "For Whom the Bell Tolls." Mr. McCain, in his last memoir: "He was and remains to my mind a hero for the twentieth century . . . an idealistic freedom fighter" who had "a beautiful fatalism" and who sacrificed "for something else, something greater." Actually Jordan fought on the side of the communists and died pointlessly, but never mind. He joined his personality to a great purpose and found meaning in his mavericks. In his campaign, Mr. McCain rarely got down to the meaning of things; he mostly stated stands. But separate and seemingly unconnected stands do not coherence make.

I liked this. Like McCain, I love "For Whom a Bell Tolls." It is probably one of my favorite books ever. But I also had a brief disconnect when I heard McCain say that Robert Jordan was his favorite protagonist. Unlike Noonan, it wasn't because Jordan was a failed Communist, but it was because Jordan didn't believe in the side for whom he fought in the end. I have always thought that this was one of McCain's more revealing comments, and I again appreciated Noonan pointing it out.

She criticized Obama on his statements on the right to life/pro-choice issue:

Quote:

And there is this. The past few months as the campaign unfolded, I listened for Mr. Obama to speak thoughtfully about the life issues, including abortion. Our last Democratic president knew what that issue was, and knew by nature how to speak of it. Bill Clinton famously said, over and over, that abortion should be "safe, legal and rare." The "rare" mattered. It set a tone, as presidents do, and made an important concession: You only want a medical practice to be rare when it isn't good. For Mr. Obama, whose mind tends, as intellectuals' minds do, toward the abstract, it all seems so . . . abstract. And cold. And rather suggestive of radical departures. "That's above my pay grade." Friend, that is your pay grade, that's where the presidency lives, in issues like that.

It's not that I feel that I needed to hear more from Obama on this topic, and really, who can blame him for not wading into an area which just hasn't been much of an issue in this election. But actually, Obama is very upfront about recognizing persons who have moral and religious viewpoints opposing abortion. Indeed, I read him as more to the right, on a personal level, than Clinton on this issue. But I did like Clinton's statement that abortion should be "safe, legal and rare." It had a certain resonance and clarity on the subject. I do think, however, that Obama believes the same.

Noonan ends:

Quote:

But let's be frank. Something new is happening in America. It is the imminent arrival of a new liberal moment. History happens, it makes its turns, you hold on for dear life. Life moves.

A fitting end for a harem-scarem, rock-'em-sock-'em shakeup of a year -- one of tumbling inevitabilities, torn coalitions, striking new personalities.

Eras end, and begin. "God is in charge of history." And so my beautiful election ends.

This is so apt. I have been on the losing side and the winning side. I'm even willing to say that the last eight years made the next eight years better. That's pretty slight praise, though, because I really don't see much of anything good that came out of the last eight years and I see a lot of bad things. But, from my perspective, I will say that it helped solidify the Democrats. From a Republican standpoint, I think that the last eight years and this election should help you go back to your fundamentals and rebuild.

On Tuesday, one side is going to win. I think it will be my side. I hope that, if this is so, everyone who has told me that I need to respect the position of the president, even if I disagree with the position that the president takes, stays true to that. I'm not saying that you can't criticize the positions, because if McCain wins and I don't agree with his position, I will say so.

But don't be vile about it. Because I have listened for eight long years about how I must be kind and polite and respectful, and while I'm sure that I have failed on occasion, I have tried. I think if ever a similar word about the need for respect for the office has passed your lips, you need to try to act similarly.

As Peggy Noonan said, "Eras end, and begin." If you don't respect that, you don't respect our process of democracy.

jndhoyt · #2 (**permalink**) 10-31-2008, 11:44 PM

Thank you for such a well thought out opinion. I hope people actually understand what you have said in your closing and stop all the nonsense.

jeanief · #3 (**permalink**) 11-01-2008, 12:21 AM

You Rock Danny! As does Peggy Noonan!

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