There are times I read Peggy Noonan’s columns and can barely believe she once worked for Ronald Reagan. It’s as if she’s been living in a bubble for far too long. She’s not the only one. I think the entire political class has been in that bubble with her.
Ms. Noonan’s column in this morning’s Wall Street Journal was a bit depressing when I read it.
More predictions. The cities and suburbs of America are about to get rougher-looking. This will not be all bad. There will be a certain authenticity chic. Storefronts, pristine buildings—all will spend less on upkeep, and gleam less.
So will humans. People will be allowed to grow old again. There will be a certain liberation in this. There will be fewer facelifts and browlifts, less Botox, less dyed hair among both men and women. They will look more like people used to look, before perfection came in. Middle-aged bodies will be thicker and softer, with more maternal and paternal give. There will be fewer gyms and fewer trainers, but more walking. Gym machines produced the pumped and cut look. They won’t be so affordable now.
I forgot about the column while I went about my day. We took the kids to a Syracuse Chiefs baseball game. We sat next to the man my son nicknamed “Robbie the Trash Talker.” My husband, his friends and my son started with the cat calls. It was such fun!
We talked to a guy who served in Afghanistan. He heard me say I was going to use my birthday money to buy a blackberry. He showed me his blackberry and somehow I found out it cost his girlfriend $600 to call him on Christmas Eve while he was in Afghanistan. If I had $600 in my pocket I probably would have given it to them. Regardless, we had some laughs and I was thrilled to be sitting with someone who served our country.
We always have a blast at the Chiefs games. The stadium is easy to get to and never too crowded. I prefer it over the big ball parks in New York City and Philadelphia. Other than paying $4 for a Diet Coke there were no complaints. Even our four year old, who normally has plenty of complaints, was all smiles all afternoon.
Which brings me back to Peggy Noonan. My family is a middle class family. Years ago we decided to stop vacationing if it meant incurring more debt. If we wanted to really stretch our budget we could probably afford a larger house, fancier cars and nicer clothes. But those things really don’t mean that much to us.
An afternoon watching a farm team play baseball is good enough for us. Always has been and always will be.
Welcome to America, Ms. Noonan.
(By the way – the Chiefs won!)
Oh, yes, exactly. I had precisely the same reaction, in fact, I had a conversation with my son about this last night in the car on the way to my grandson’s 6th birthday dinner at Five Guys’ (the best hamburgers and fries in the VA area and fed 3 adults, 2 kids for under $25.) Over the last year I read each new column of Noonan’s with an increasing sense that she is a victim of “The Invasion of the Body Snatchers” a pod person, substituted for the warm-hearted conservative I used to appreciate for reminding me to be gentle with those whose views I disagreed while remaining faithful to my own conservatism.
Noonan, Christopher Buckley, Kathleen Parker, and a number of other once conservative columnists seem to have been colonized, perhaps as a result of spending too much time immersed in the elitist culture of DC and NYC. Perhaps we ought see if the Navy and the Seals could be pressed into duty to rescue them?
In any case, thanks for giving voice to what I felt as I read her most recent.
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Maybe Noonan is returning to her roots – those before Reagan. She wrote Dan Rather’s daily radio commentary and other specials for CBS and has taught at New York University.
Maybe she was never a conservative, just a very talented writer who did what her boss wanted her to do.
I’ve noticed the same thing – Noonan no longer sounds like Noonan, or maybe she never sounded like Noonan.
There is nothing like a family outing, especially when the kids are free to scream and yell and jump up and down.
BTW, thanks for sharing this with me, and it seems your special day was wonderful.
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I always thought that Peggy was holding onto sanity by a thread, even in her best days. It looks now like the thread snapped.
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I’ve never really believed Noonan’s really a conservative. I think Maggie may have it right: just doing as she was told.
Rita, thanks.
Hey there Zorro:-)
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