“What we need most right now, at this moment, is a kind of patriotic grace - a grace that takes the long view, apprehends the moment we're in, comes up with ways of dealing with it, and eschews the politically cheap and manipulative. That admits affection and respect. That encourages them. That acknowledges that the small things that divide us are not worthy of the moment; that agrees that the things that can be done to ease the stresses we feel as a nation should be encouraged, while those that encourage our cohesion as a nation should be supported."—Peggy Noonan, Patriotic Grace: What It Is and Why We Need It Now (2008)
More often than not, I disagree with conservative Wall Street Journal columnist Peggy Noonan. But she has practiced the patriotic grace she called for two years ago, as she has criticized President Obama for his policies rather than for the all-too-otherwise-prevalent GOP belief that he’s a Muslim Marxist. And at least she’s not hanging with the crazies (though seeing NJ Gov. Chris Christie, rather than the Tea Party, as the future of the GOP, as she did a month ago, is, at best, what might be termed only an incremental improvement.)
Her column remains the first thing I turn to each weekend edition of the Journal. You see, I feel that I have to. Unlike other columnists, whether liberal or conservative, whose opinions are not only so predictable but so rabid that I know what they’ll express before I set eyes on the piece, Ms. Noonan still has the capacity to surprise me.
At some point, she’ll put within two covers her best Journal articles over the years. Until then, though, the best place to start with her is in her memoir of speechwriting in the Reagan White House, What I Saw at the Revolution. More than 20 years later, it remains wise and witty about the madness bred inside those who live within the bubble of a President and his advisers. All incoming administrations would be well advised to read it.
Oh, I almost forgot: happy 60th birthday, Ms. Noonan.
More often than not, I disagree with conservative Wall Street Journal columnist Peggy Noonan. But she has practiced the patriotic grace she called for two years ago, as she has criticized President Obama for his policies rather than for the all-too-otherwise-prevalent GOP belief that he’s a Muslim Marxist. And at least she’s not hanging with the crazies (though seeing NJ Gov. Chris Christie, rather than the Tea Party, as the future of the GOP, as she did a month ago, is, at best, what might be termed only an incremental improvement.)
Her column remains the first thing I turn to each weekend edition of the Journal. You see, I feel that I have to. Unlike other columnists, whether liberal or conservative, whose opinions are not only so predictable but so rabid that I know what they’ll express before I set eyes on the piece, Ms. Noonan still has the capacity to surprise me.
At some point, she’ll put within two covers her best Journal articles over the years. Until then, though, the best place to start with her is in her memoir of speechwriting in the Reagan White House, What I Saw at the Revolution. More than 20 years later, it remains wise and witty about the madness bred inside those who live within the bubble of a President and his advisers. All incoming administrations would be well advised to read it.
Oh, I almost forgot: happy 60th birthday, Ms. Noonan.
No comments:
Post a Comment