Peggy Noonan: Way Too Much God

Wall Street Journal ^ | January 21, 2005 | Peggy Noonan

[RWR8189]

Was the president's speech a case of "mission inebriation"?

It was an interesting Inauguration Day. Washington had warmed up, the swift storm of the previous day had passed, the sky was overcast but the air wasn't painful in a wind-chill way, and the capital was full of men in cowboy hats and women in long furs. In fact, the night of the inaugural balls became known this year as The Night of the Long Furs.

Laura Bush's beauty has grown more obvious; she was chic in shades of white, and smiled warmly. The Bush daughters looked exactly as they are, beautiful and young. A well-behaved city was on its best behavior, everyone from cops to doormen to journalists eager to help visitors in any way.

For me there was some unexpected merriness. In my hotel the night before the inauguration, all the guests were evacuated at 1:45 in the morning. There were fire alarms and flashing lights on each floor, and a public address system instructed us to take the stairs, not the elevators. Hundreds of people wound up outside in the slush, eventually gathering inside the lobby, waiting to find out what next.

The staff--kindly, clucking--tried to figure out if the fire existed and, if so, where it was. Hundreds of inaugural revelers wound up observing each other. Over there on the couch was Warren Buffet in bright blue pajamas and a white hotel robe. James Baker was in trench coat and throat scarf. I remembered my keys and eyeglasses but walked out without my shoes. After a while the "all clear" came,

[RWR8189]

A lot different than her comments right after the speech on Fox.

[Echo Talon]

Who is Peggy Noonan?

[Howlin]

She called it "grating."

[inkling]

I'm shocked that Peggy is dissing the speech. A little speechwriter envy, perhaps? Very odd column.

[drjimmy]

Who is Peggy Noonan?

She was a speechwriter for Reagan and has also written speeches for Bush. She took a leave from her Wall Street Journal job to work on Bush's campaign.

[Joann37]

Sounds like she's envious that she's no longer writing speeches for a President.

[Salvation]

I can't believe she is saying this.

[Mr. Mojo]

......asserting an agenda so sweeping that an observer quipped that by the end he would not have been surprised if the president had announced we were going to colonize Mars.

The Planet of War needs our compassionate touch, no doubt about it.

[jwfiv]

Peggy's usually right in her assessments.

This time she's wrong.

Sounds like she might be a bit jealous that she didn't get to pen those words

God-drenched?

Nah.

I thought it a damn fine speech, in all ways

[piasa]

Personally I don't think the libs can get enough of it. And they can hardly complain now that they are, with the help of Jim Wallis, going to remake themselves as religious to try to win back some votes.

[Texas_Jarhead]

hmmm, somewhat surprising

[Howlin]

Are you kidding?

[Howlin]

She is; all over TV.

[Red Sea Swimmer]

Uranus needs some investigation as well.

[Fiddlstix]

BTTT

[Howlin]

But whoever picked the music for the inaugural ceremony itself--modern megachurch hymns, music that sounds like what they'd use for the quiet middle section of a Pixar animated film--was . . . lame.

Trent Lott! John Ashcroft! Orrin Hatch!

[Echo Talon]

Are you kidding?

Of course I was kidding... My point is, who cares what she thinks...

[Red Sea Swimmer]

It's just like Mother Theresa used to say to the devout super models she used to meet.

"You can never be too thin, or have too much God."