Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Grace Under Pressure -- Difficult times call for less-contentious politics. (Noonan)
opinionjournal.com ^ | 12/1/06 | Peggy Noonan

Posted on 12/01/2006 8:17:53 AM PST by beyond the sea

We're going to need grace. We are going to need a great outbreak of grace to navigate the next difficult months.

America is turning against a war it supported, for the essential reason that no one is able to promise a believable path to a successful outcome, and Americans are a practical people. It is not true that Americans are historical romantics. They are patriots who, once committed, commit on all levels, including emotionally. But they don't wake up in the morning looking for new flags to follow over old cliffs. They want to pay the mortgage, protect their children, and try to be better parents in a jittery time. They are not isolationist. They want to help where they can, and feel called to support the poor and the sick wherever they are. They are also, still, American exceptionalists, meaning they believe the creation of America--the long journey across the sea, the genius cluster that invented the republic, the historic codifying of freedom--was providential, and good news not only for us but the world. "And the glow from that fire can truly light the world."

Much has been strained. We were all concussed by 9/11--we reeled--and came down where we came down. For the administration, extreme events prompted radical thinking. American exceptionalism was yesterday. They would be universalists, their operating style at once dreamy and aggressive: All men want the same thing, and we're giving it to them whether they want it or not. Now the dreamers hope to be saved by men--James Baker, Vernon Jordan--they once dismissed as cynics. And the two truest statements on Iraq are, still, Colin Powell's "You break it, you own it" and Pat Buchanan's "A constitution doesn't make a country, a country makes a constitution." Iraq has a constitution but not a country.

(Excerpt) Read more at opinionjournal.com ...


TOPICS: Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: bush; government; iraq; war
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-48 last
To: beyond the sea

WSJ / Noonan bump for later.............


41 posted on 12/01/2006 10:50:38 AM PST by indthkr
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Shelayne

Well said!


42 posted on 12/01/2006 11:32:59 AM PST by beyond the sea ( All lies and jest, still the man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 34 | View Replies]

To: Shelayne

Well said!


43 posted on 12/01/2006 11:34:45 AM PST by beyond the sea ( All lies and jest, still the man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 34 | View Replies]

To: dogbyte12
Here's another thing: we don't know that this is actually what President Bush said. Although Webb's people have been complaining that the White House leaked the original story, that leak had to have come from the Webb camp.

Why do I say that? It is because Webb's THOUGHTS ("I wanted to slug him") were quoted.

Therefore, the President could have said something like, "I know how you feel, but I just wanted to know how your son is doing."

Democrats lie. It is part of their fabric of being.

44 posted on 12/01/2006 11:44:05 AM PST by Miss Marple (Lord, thank you for Mozart Lover's son's safe return, and look after Jemian's son, please!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 28 | View Replies]

To: borkrules
That she dislikes Bush is hardly news. The extent to which she will stretch to make her antipathy for Mr. Bush clear is.

Yes, and I suspect that most people smart enough to penetrate her persiflage will also be smart enough to reject her premise.

45 posted on 12/01/2006 12:00:02 PM PST by rmgatto
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 40 | View Replies]

To: Miss Marple

Yes, they do lie. But sometimes they tell the truth.

When I first read the story, I thought George Bush did get snippy, a lapse of his usual graciousness. Having had a friendly inquiry - to an opposing senator, no less - met with a demand to cut and run, I figured the president got impatient, something he's been known to do.

I assumed, of course, that the story was true - something I'm still inclined to think but can't prove. As others have pointed out, a lot depends on tone too, and I have no idea whether the president's was gracious or snippy. It's not unbelievable that George Bush would fire off a snippy line.

If, as is probable, he did, it's not unforgivable, either. As I said, I consider it a lapse of the graciousness that the president has so often shown. We all have our lapses. Knowing the weakness of ourselves and of others, do you know how we should meet those lapses? With grace.


46 posted on 12/01/2006 12:11:17 PM PST by Irish Rose (Will work for chocolate.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 44 | View Replies]

To: beyond the sea

Nice. Wonder if I can find a demo this weekend, and have to imagine it'll be a few months before it hits the PGA Partners Demo program. It's gotta retail for at least $500.00. Probabaly will just go ahead and stick with the Launcher-Comp for another year or 2.


47 posted on 12/01/2006 12:25:14 PM PST by Hat-Trick (Do you trust a government that cannot trust you with guns?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 22 | View Replies]

To: Hat-Trick
I'll bet you he never uses it anywhere near the tour........ a SQUARE-headed driver. It has to be a drag ...... so to speak.

;-)

48 posted on 12/01/2006 1:09:11 PM PST by beyond the sea ( All lies and jest, still the man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 47 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-48 last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson