Among the many elisions, distortions, and half-truths in Noonan's latest Wall Street Journal column is this doozy:
Looking back, a key domestic moment in this presidency occurred only eight days after his inauguration, when Mr. Obama won House passage of his stimulus bill. It was a bad bill—off point, porky and philosophically incoherent. He won 244-188, a rousing victory for a new president. But he won without a single Republican vote. That was the moment the new division took hold. The Democrats of the House pushed it through, and not one Republican, even those from swing districts, even those eager to work with the administration, could support it.
Yes, exactly. There were dozens of Republicans just dying to vote for a stimulus package. But darned if the White House didn't rebuff them at every turn. If only Obama could have found it within himself to reach out to the opposition, history might have taken a completely different turn. Instead, the House Republicans were so dejected over Obama's persistent spurning that they ... promptly broke into cheers after their unanimous no-vote. (Then gave themselves a standing ovation when they watched the video the following night.) Truly heartbreaking.
Also, don't miss this novel piece of advice from Noonan to Obama:
Govern knowing we are a big, strong, mighty nation, a colossus that is, however, like all highly complex, highly wired organisms, fragile, even at places quite delicate. Don't overburden or overexcite the system. America used to have fringes, one over here and the other over there. The fringes are growing. The fringes have their own networks. All sorts of forces exist to divide us. Try always to unite. [emphasis added.]
Right--that uniting idea clearly never occurred to this president.
Is it just me, or is there something unbelievably tedious about the tone Noonan always manages to affect? Like some eternally-wise parent lecturing a bunch of ill-mannered children, when in fact the vast majority of the misbehavior comes from her side of the ideological spectrum.