PEGGY NOONAN HAS TOO MANY MIRRORS

Papa thinks Peggy Noonan, who came to prominence working for Ronald Reagan, “The Great Communicator” - by putting her words in his mouth - has too many mirrors in her house.

Ms. Noonan somehow believes it is she who confers credibility on American Presidents. I suppose, since she thinks she did it for one of them, with his approval, she has a license to pontificate forevermore.

In The Wall Street Journal, she proclaims that Barack Obama, in an instant of self-realization, “became” the President during a moment in his speech to Congress – a moment naturally of her choosing. She doesn’t add, but - in order for that to be true - we must assume Mr. Obama failed to comprehend his victory in the election we had last November. You almost wonder what he was doing in Grant Park that night thanking a quarter of a million people gathered to hear him speak. Likewise, he also missed out on understanding what the transition was all about. I wonder why he even bothered? And, of course, Mr. Obama completely lost track of the significance of his inauguration. Perhaps, the confusion between him and the Chief Justice was because Obama didn’t realize it was he who was taking the Oath of Office. We’ll have to ask Peggy.

According to Ms. Noonan, it was only last Tuesday, while on television, standing before a joint session of Congress, that Obama finally understood that he was indeed the President of the United States.

The difficulty I have with Ms. Noonan, and the entire panoply of conservative pundits, is — they feel that until they declare the legitimacy of a President, he has none. Until she casts it aside, he is only a doubtful Chief Executive. Where was her analysis for our last doubtful POTUS? The 2000 election was as corrupt and destructive of honor, dignity and whatever it is we are fond of calling “democracy,” as any since 1824 or 1876. History has taught us little or nothing.

In January 2001, we inaugurated the loser of our election — and we never lifted a finger to object, except perhaps to order another glass of wine. If she had her legitimacy concerns about Bush 43 then, as she seems to indicate she did, now - Peggy Noonan kept them to herself — for eight long years.

Today, while announcing Obama’s newfound Presidential legitimacy, Noonan compares it to her old favorite and trumpets the Reagan victory in 1980 conveniently overlooking his despicable and near traitorous secret and illegal interference with Iran, during that campaign, urging them not to make a deal on the American hostages with Jimmy Carter. Nor does Ms. Noonan make any mention of her hero’s payback to Iran’s ruling clerics via arms shipments engineered in the White House by the bottom-dwelling Col. Oliver North. That’s legitimacy? For Peggy Noonan, it appears to qualify.

She goes on to praise Bush 41 as a symbol of the only other legitimate Presidency in recent times. Again she forgets. Of all the American Presidents who ever ran for a second term, Bush 41 received the smallest percentage of the vote in our national electoral history. Where Papa comes from, that equals a thunderous rejection of his Presidency by the American people. That’s a far cry from legitimacy.

And, yes, Peggy Noonan asserts that Bill Clinton, who actually won his election and then actually won his reelection too, was not a legitimate President. Reagan, YES – Clinton, NO. Like Papa said, too many mirrors in her house.

If I may once more associate myself favorably with a cinematic bunch of Mexican gold bandits... I don't need no Peggy Noonan to tell me who my President is.