"Afraid of losing your place in the Speech writing hall of fame?"
LOL, that's exactly what I was thinking! I have always said that Peggy Noonan can be so purple in her prose that if the word maudlin did not exist it would have to be invented just for her. I mean I like her well enough, but for her to say someone is "over the top" in their florid writing is just a great example of the pot calling the kettle black.
I didn't see too much of the inaugural, but I saw enough to know that W just basically gave the back of his hand to his leftist critics, and good on him for doing so. I wish I could have watched the whole thing, but the one part I did see that was great was the pipe & drum band playing "when the saints come marching in", oh how the godless commies must have HATED that.
Poor Pegeen, I'd respond to this, but I'd just be mean about it; and her strange turn of contrariness is just kind of sad.
The problem that she has is not with the prose but with the point of the speech. This speech was effectively a declaration that GWB plans on recasting the entire philosophy behind our foreign policy. This is extremely worrisome to some even within the GOP. I suspect that Peggy had a few drinks with them and came up with this critique.