Our Side Needs Someone This Smart and This Articulate

I have admired Peggy Noonan and enjoyed her writing for years.  If you don't know her, she was the Bush I speechwriter responsible for the "1000 points of light"  speech.  Shortly after she left the White House, she wrote a book about her experiences there, and today (well, a few days ago, anyway) she's a contributing editor of The Wall Street Journal.

I can't think of much that Ms. Noonan and I have ever agreed upon.  But I thought that her description of her boots-long-skirts-and-long-hair presence in a buttoned up Republican White House full of women employees wearing little suits, pumps, and sensibly bobbed hair was a stitch.  And I was bowled over by her descriptions of preparing speeches by first spending hours in the library pouring over the words and actions of the presidents who preceded her boss.  There's no question but that she's a dispassionate analyst and brilliant wordsmith with a passion for conservative politics. 

Peggy Noonan has just taken an unpaid leave from the Journal  to volunteer the next three months of her time working for the President's re-election. She says that "Every four years everyone says 'this is the most important election of my lifetime,' but this year I believe it is true."  I guess I have  found something that she and I agree upon, after all.  I've been thinking about this for the past few weeks and I don't think there's been an election of this importance during my lifetime, and I doubt that there will be again.  We are setting a tone for who we are at home and what our place is in a world that has spun in a completely new direction in the past 20 years.  Presidential leadership is all about setting that tone and I, for one, hear dissonance and confusion under our current Commander-in-Chief.

The Republicans have a new weapon of extraordinary intelligence and skill in Ms. Noonan.  I hope the Democrats have someone who can take her on.