Posted on 01/20/2005 9:33:31 PM PST by 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,
(Excerpt) Read more at opinionjournal.com ...
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.
Pardon me?
I lost what? I voted for GW Bush twice.
What are you talking about?
What did I lose?
I would like to hear her square this with her remarks immediately following the speech, which I did not hear, but understand were far more flattering.
Dude!! Get real!! Yes, the world is becoming more interdependent. It ain't gonna get less so. Bush is laying out the groundwork to deal with that reality.
Quit it with your Pat Buchanan BS.
You always disagree with me , jenny.
If I say BLACK, you say WHITE.
So, what else is new?
Riiight.
I don't understand how someone who is so public about her Catholicism can complain about too much religion in a speech being made by a religious man to a religious nation.
Too much hope and spirituality for some people is like garlic to Dracula.
Who did Winston Churchill get to write his stuff?
Other than that, I think Noonan's criticisms odd. If you can't lay out a broad, thematic speech at an inauguration, when?
peggy@peggynoonan.com
Frankly, I think she is a bit jealous.
He did not mention God that much. IT is just because he does at all that it gets more attention.
Whatever.
The speech was so chockful of platitudes and cliches, I thought I was listening to JFK in 1961.
Where have all the great speechwriters gone?
There are those that must have said that "tear down this wall" was unrealistic too. I find Peggy to be a bloody hypocrite.
It's projection on her part and putting words in W's mouth that he never said. Maybe she had a few too many wines today, who know ?
No, Peggy revealed she has no idea why Bush was elected, what his message has been or why he inspired tens of thousands of volunteers to work on his campaign. She has revealed that she is on the outside looking in on something she simply doesn't understand.
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