Peggy Noonan has always seemed to me to be one of the best speech writers in the country. Her prose sounds great; she can say that it is raining while making it sound as if the Lord has taken great care in fashioning each raindrop. But more than the beauty of her words, there is the clear insights that they provide. As a columnist, she is equally outstanding. Writing in the Wall Street Journal, Noonan put forth a few sentences that seem to me to be about the truest essence of the Obama presidency.
" Two years ago I wrote of Clare Booth Luce's observation that all presidents have a sentence: 'He fought to hold the union together and end slavery.' 'He brought America through economic collapse and a world war.' You didn't have to be told it was Lincoln, or FDR. I said that Mr. Obama didn't understand his sentence. But Republicans now think they know it.
Four words: He made it worse.
Obama inherited financial collapse, deficits and debt. He inherited a broken political culture. These things weren't his fault. But through his decisions, he made them all worse."
Think about it. If someone asks you to quickly name an area where Obama has made a positive difference, it is hard to answer. The only thing I can think of is that he gave the order to kill bin Laden. But, in reality, it is hard to imagine any American president (other than Jimmy Carter) who would not have given that order. Indeed, even Carter would probably have given the go ahead. So that leads us back to the question: in what area did Obama as president make a positive difference? Noonan is right. There is no such area.
Anyone who thinks that there is really something that Obama has done right should leave a comment to this post. I am truly interested in seeing what others think about this.
1 comment:
I personally can not tell you any area, but many of my democrat friends are saying that he made healthcare better for them. Obvious this would only be from their short term perspective, but they are very adamant that it is better.
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