January 24, 2005

National Politics

Commentary as Job Interview

Justin Katz

Related to Marc's posts (here and here) on Peggy Noonan's reaction to President Bush's inaugural speech, Patrick Sweeney of Extreme Catholic delves into some of the relevant theological considerations. He also makes this story-behind-the-story suggestion:

Perhaps Peggy Noonan thinks she's in the running for William Safire's job.

This is ankle-biting envy. This is offering a "Good, but I could have done better" criticism.

Too much cynicism paints the world in nasty tones, but positioning is inevitably a part of decisions, particularly among writers and particularly among opinion writers. Noonan's credibility is such that readers should doubt neither her sincerity nor perspicacity in picking up on something significant in the President's speech. Still, it must be difficult, at her level of success, to close one's mind to the benefits of dissent from the conservative Republican line.

11:17 AM
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Noonan's credibility is such that readers should doubt neither her sincerity nor perspicacity in picking up on something significant in the President's speech.

You know, Justin; I thought the same thing when I read it. So I re-read it again and again. The conclusion I came to, which was based, in part, on a review of Michael Novak's latest book, is that her critique seems more Calvinistic than Catholic. I blogged on it in more detail in this post which includes a link to the review of Novak's book, if you'd like to take a look. :)

Posted by: someguy at January 24, 2005 12:30 PM