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Peggy Noonan, former Reagan speechwriter and wingnut, surprised Sean Hannity and myself when she had this to say about President Bush's speech today.
Noonan: I'll be frank, I think some of it went over the top a little bit....
also
Noonan: I found it a little grating
Hannity: A little what?
Noonan: A little grating in some respects.
In her column: Way Too Much God
Was the president's speech a case of "mission inebriation"?
The inaugural address itself was startling. It left me with a bad feeling, and reluctant dislike.
Ending tyranny in the world? Well that's an ambition, and if you're going to have an ambition it might as well be a big one. But this declaration, which is not wrong by any means, seemed to me to land somewhere between dreamy and disturbing. Tyranny is a very bad thing and quite wicked, but one doesn't expect we're going to eradicate it any time soon. Again, this is not heaven, it's earth.
And yet such promising moments were followed by this, the ending of the speech. "Renewed in our strength--tested, but not weary--we are ready for the greatest achievements in the history of freedom."
One wonders if they shouldn't ease up, calm down, breathe deep, get more securely grounded. The most moving speeches summon us to the cause of what is actually possible. Perfection in the life of man on earth is not.
I never thought that I would agree with her, but let's face it; if the President's speech left her with a "bad felling" what did the rest of us feel?
