Peggy Noonan: Just the Facts

Opinion Journal ^ | 01/27/03 | Peggy Noonan

[Pokey78]

Nothing personal, Mr. President: How to make the case against Saddam.

Nothing is more beautiful, more elevating, more important in a speech than fact and logic. People thinks passionate and moving oratory is the big thing, but it isn't. The hard true presentation of facts followed by a declaration of how we must deal with those facts is the key. Without a recitation of hard data, high rhetoric seems insubstantial, vaguely disingenuous, merely dramatic. Without a logical case to support rhetoric has nothing to do. It's like icing without cake.

[joesbucks]

I tend to agree with Peggy on this piece. I understand what you are saying, and it may be true that she is overprotective of the Reagan legacy. But at the same time, one of Reagan's great strengths was in communicating to the public (hence his nickname of "The Great Communicator"), and Peggy was a part of that, so when she speaks of what the public needs to hear, I tend to give her the benefit of the doubt. Plus, what she says here simply makes sense to me. His speech to the UN was fantastic because it was logical and passionate

Precisely......The Bushbots have are going into overtime.......doing exactly what Peggy's been accused of.......

Bush shouldn't be advised what to do, Bush is governed only by his determination, not response from the public, his advisers and others. Sure, he may go against world opinion and public opinion.....but he'll craft the message of his actions to meet in some way or form. He'll do it to slow the nervousness of the vast middle....not the hardliners from either party. He's done it in the past....he'll do it now. Certainly not to the extent of the previous administration, but it will have an impact.

Wait4Truth, so what if the previous administration comes against the prez......if Bush's actions leave no room for criticism, then he'll deflect the criticism easily. No one ever said Clinton was gracioius......so we've got to deal with it.

[The Great Satan]

And thus, I creep closer to the "full Satan". ;-)

It's catching, isn't it?

[Wordsmith]

Where's the anthrax, Saddam?

BTW, thank you for the Saddam/gangster analogy. Found it useful in replying to my young (21) brother when he circulated via email an anti-war "petition to the UN".

Capone with nukes. What a pleasant thought.

[1Old Pro]

Far better to put your claims in a sealed envelope and document their existence after you've taken your enemy down.

Yep, loose lips sink ships. If he believes we need to attack, as I do, he should tell the American people why with some "new" facts and some information that will not compromise our troops.

[baseballmom]

I like your idea of "hand holding" and walking the American people through Resolution 1441. Most people are content to get their information from ABCNBCCBS in 60 second snippets - not exactly the most straightforward sources.

[RJCogburn]

Iraq has spit all over Resolution 1441 ~ and material breach means war.

Maybe so, but for many 'average Americans'...good people, hard working, not nutty leftists, that is not enough. The sentiment here at FR does not necessarily reflect the country at large.

[RJCogburn]

I'm convinced from that one speech alone.

As are many here. The 'average American' though wants more, IMO. I think that is basically what Noonan is saying.

[RJCogburn]

so that a relative few whining libs will come to agree

If the matter were limited to that I would concur completely. It is not, IMO.

[TejasRose]

On the other hand, it may cloud her views. She has been nit-picking President Bush for awhile now. Is she afraid of something? She has taken to using psycho-babble to analyze what he thinks, why he thinks it and why he is who he is. I have been offended at some of her comments recently.

I SO totally agree with everything you said! If Peggy Noonan is such a big supporter of President Bush, it has been really hard to tell lately!

[joesbucks]

You can be a big supporter and still find room for improvement......if that improvement may give the commonly shared agenda a better chance of moving ahead.

Too many people here are afraid of a little positive criticism.....

[RJCogburn]

Too many people here are afraid of a little positive criticism.....

Yup.

[Right_in_Virginia]

Iraq has spit all over Resolution 1441 ~ and material breach means war.

__________

Maybe so, but for many 'average Americans'...good people, hard working, not nutty leftists, that is not enough. The sentiment here at FR does not necessarily reflect the country at large.

I understand what you're saying...and I don't want to sound flip. But, we're approaching a point of no return and this is the quote that comes to mind ~ "Lead, follow--or get out of the way."

It's worth repeating ~ I mean no disrepect. But now is the time for leadership. Lead--and the people will follow. (Okay, I'm out of quotes ;^) )

[Right_in_Virginia]

I have thought for a long time that he would be most effective if he were to clearly explain Resolution 1441, what it says Iraq must do and why, and how Saddam is not holding up his end of the deal. ... This would do the most to combat those anti-war people who think this is "all about oil", IMHO. What do you think?

I agree! Somewhere in the course of this debate Resolution 1441 was turned inside out (ah, Daschle, et al?).

Not only would another reminder of what 1441 is all about combat the "all about oil" nonsense--it would also show how the UN and its resolutions are irrelevant and explain why the President of the United States must exercise his right to act with a "coalition of the willing" and protect American lives and interests.

[joesbucks]

I understand what you're saying...and I don't want to sound flip. But, we're approaching a point of no return and this is the quote that comes to mind ~ "Lead, follow--or get out of the way." It's worth repeating ~ I mean no disrepect. But now is the time for leadership. Lead--and the people will follow. (Okay, I'm out of quotes ;^) )

You are right.....however leadership comes in many different forms that are appropriate with the point in time when leadership is required. When in the heat of battle, the luxury of explaining what's happening isn't available. But we've had over a year to this point and probably a certain extension of time that something must be done. That is where I believe Noonan and certain other people who keep talking about giving a better explanation of what's needed and what must be done.

You'll never change the minds of the protesters and most leftists. Some may even have good reason to be voicing thier concerns, despite certain people with dubious ties being connected with the protest demonstrations. But who you can influence are those who do not pay particularly close attention to world affairs.

We still have the time to make our case with those people instead of letting the anti-war folks have their forum to shape minds.

The Bush team needs to craft their sound bites to convey the seriousness of this situation to Iraq as well as to gain support of the masses. That support is going to be important, as this action will probably take years to root out most of the strength of terrorism.

Suggestions such as these aren't tacit disapproval of Bush. They are supportive of making something good even better.

[Fury]

How about polaroid photos sent to the White House showing grinning jihadis standing in front of famous US landmarks holding up glass jars full of white powder?

Sadly, a good part of the sheeple would think the pictures doctored or the photograph staged. In fact, I believe the US could present very specific evidence and some people would still be skeptical unless inspectors were there and saw such evidence with their own eyes. Of course, any such evidence would be long dispersed by the time inspectors arrived.

The best that President Bush can do is to release *some* information that they have, information that has the best chance of connecting with Americans. I agree it should not be necessary.

[Right_in_Virginia]

We still have the time to make our case with those people instead of letting the anti-war folks have their forum to shape minds.

I'm with you 100%. This will be a most interesting seven days.

[Travis McGee]

Forget the polaroids, the Whitehouse could have been mailed an actual sealed jar of anthrax spores, along with photos of cases of more jars in front of landmarks.

"Here is one one kilo jar. We have 99 more jars spread among your biggest cities ready to go."

That type of "message" could very well have been delivered to the W H, and they would not tell us.

[MattAMiller]

Noonan is right that Bush should focus on a logical factual argument. And he doesn't need to reveal anything new. All the evidence we need is in the inspector's reports. Iraq is clearly hiding something.

Right now people seem to be confused. Bush should clear up that confusion.