Peggy Reviews Dubya
Peggy Noonan gives
a mixed review of the president's press conference performance. She liked his
opening statement. A lot.
However, she was tepid about Bush's response to reporters' questions. Though in this regard, Peggy writes, "the press came to his rescue, and God bless them. They are so clearly carrying water for the left-liberal establishment, they were so clearly carrying water for the preening and partisan hacks who dominate the 9/11 commission, and the Washington Post's coverage of the news conference yesterday morning was so clearly teeing up Bob Woodward's next book, that the media nullified their hostility. "
In other words, the president was fortunate that the reporters hissing "Are you still beating your wife"-type questions at him Wednesday night inadvertantly exposed themselves not as objective journalists but as agenda-driven anti-America leftists.
Noonan concludes with this insight:
More and more it seems to me Mr. Bush is not only Bill Clinton's successor but his exact opposite: Mr. Clinton perfectly poised and hollow inside, a man whose lack of compass left him unable to lead within the Oval Office but who gave a compelling public presentation of the presidency, and Mr. Bush a strong president with an obvious soul, decisive at the desk, but with no dazzling edifice. It's actually amazing that two such different men came so close together. Lucky for us, considering the history, that Mr. Bush was the one who came now.
And that Clinton came before. And got impeached for it. (Sorry...couldn't help myself.)
