12.28.2007

Peggy Noonan: McCain, Hillary, the others

Be Reasonable: As Iowa sizes up the candidates, so do I.

Excerpts:

John McCain? Yes. Remember when he was the wild man in 2000? For Republicans on the ground he was a little outré, if Republicans on the ground said "outré," as opposed to the more direct "nut job." George W. Bush, then, was the moderate, more even-toned candidate. Times change. Mr. McCain is an experienced, personally heroic, seasoned, blunt-eyed, irascible American character. He makes me proud. He makes everyone proud.

...

Hillary Clinton? No, not reasonable. I concede her sturdy mind, deep sophistication, and seriousness of intent. I see her as a triangulator like her husband, not a radical but a maneuverer in the direction of a vague, half-forgotten but always remembered, leftism. It is also true that she has a command-and-control mentality, an urgent, insistent and grating sense of destiny, and she appears to believe that any act that benefits Clintons is a virtuous act, because Clintons are good and deserve to be benefited.

But this is not, actually, my central problem with her candidacy. My central problem is that the next American president will very likely face another big bad thing, a terrible day, or days, and in that time it will be crucial--crucial--that our nation be led by a man or woman who can be, at least for the moment and at least in general, trusted. Mrs. Clinton is the most dramatically polarizing, the most instinctively distrusted, political figure of my lifetime. Yes, I include Nixon. Would she be able to speak the nation through the trauma? I do not think so. And if I am right, that simple fact would do as much damage to America as the terrible thing itself.

Comment: I pray that the next President does not face "another big bad thing"! New word (for me) ... outre

1 comment:

  1. A weak article particularly since it begins by giving the nod to Joe Biden and Chris Dodd and then ignores Rudy. I am not a Rudy supporter at this point but I would vote for him before I’d vote for Joe and Chris and so would almost everyone else. What have Chris and Joe done to indicate they are executive material? Nothing. And she calls them reasonable. Chris remains a full time apologist for the authoritarian crooks that destroyed Nicaragua. Writing a regular column has to be a challenge when your mind wanders. Hope to see better work in the New Year, Peggy.

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