Friday, June 18, 2010

Peggy Noonan Nails It - Obama is Snakebit

Peggy Noonan's article about how unlucky Obama seems to be is a must read. She nails the reasons for the sense of malaise that prompted this weekend's music. Her article reminded me of what my first submarine skipper told me when I was a youngster just out of seminary, "If you're not lucky, we can't use you." (Rumor has it that Gene Hackman modeled his character in Crimson Tide off of him; if you knew the skipper, you would believe it.)

Some gems
:

Normally presidents have had a printed copy of the speech in their hands or on the desk, in case the teleprompter freezes or fails. Mr. Obama's desk was shiny and empty.
...
There is still a sense about Mr. Obama that he needs George W. Bush in order to give his presidency full shape and meaning. In this he is like Jimmy Carter, who needed Richard Nixon...

...
There is a growing meme that Mr. Obama is too impressed by credentialism, by the meritocracy, by those who hold forth in the faculty lounge, and too strongly identifies with them. He should be more impressed by those with real-world experience.

2 comments:

  1. Great article and right on point. this is what happens when you have an empty shell pretending to be a president. Sad for the country as it hurts our credibility and position with other world powers, or power wannabes! I suspected Ms. Clinton would make a bid for POTUS in 2012 and now I feel that, given your president's current failings and weaknesses, she is that much more viable as a candidate.

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  2. I love Peggy Noonan's calm,, wise take on the events in Washington, but in this one I think she's missed the mark. Instead, I'm going with VDH's assessment that Obama is a college dean who has been elected president and is running the government like it was a faculty. College faculty accomplish nothing practical nor do they try.

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