Peggy Noonan on Sarah Palin: "She doesn't seem to understand"

Peggy Noonan is a columnist for the Wall Street Journal and is conservative. She doesn’t appear impressed by this nation’s hottest gov: (subscription required)

….we have seen Mrs. Palin on the national stage for seven weeks now, and there is little sign that she has the tools, the equipment, the knowledge or the philosophical grounding one hopes for, and expects, in a holder of high office. She is a person of great ambition, but the question remains: What is the purpose of the ambition? She wants to rise, but what for? For seven weeks I’ve listened to her, trying to understand if she is Bushian or Reaganite—a spender, to speak briefly, whose political decisions seem untethered to a political philosophy, and whose foreign policy is shaped by a certain emotionalism, or a conservative whose principles are rooted in philosophy, and whose foreign policy leans more toward what might be called romantic realism, and that is speak truth, know America, be America, move diplomatically, respect public opinion, and move within an awareness and appreciation of reality. Continue reading “Peggy Noonan on Sarah Palin: "She doesn't seem to understand"”

Peggy Noonan on Sarah Palin: “She doesn’t seem to understand”

Peggy Noonan is a columnist for the Wall Street Journal and is conservative. She doesn’t appear impressed by this nation’s hottest gov: (subscription required)

….we have seen Mrs. Palin on the national stage for seven weeks now, and there is little sign that she has the tools, the equipment, the knowledge or the philosophical grounding one hopes for, and expects, in a holder of high office. She is a person of great ambition, but the question remains: What is the purpose of the ambition? She wants to rise, but what for? For seven weeks I’ve listened to her, trying to understand if she is Bushian or Reaganite—a spender, to speak briefly, whose political decisions seem untethered to a political philosophy, and whose foreign policy is shaped by a certain emotionalism, or a conservative whose principles are rooted in philosophy, and whose foreign policy leans more toward what might be called romantic realism, and that is speak truth, know America, be America, move diplomatically, respect public opinion, and move within an awareness and appreciation of reality. Continue reading “Peggy Noonan on Sarah Palin: “She doesn’t seem to understand””