She sees Sarah Palin as the embodiment of that which is wrong in American politics, pandering after sensationalism at the price of substance. In doing so, Ms. Noonan misses entirely the essence of Sarah Palin. The secret of Sarah Palin's connection to the American people is that it is a moral connection. She is the figure of an authentic moral creature. Both characteristics are essential: Palin is moral and Palin is authentic.
Noonan misses all of this. She faults Palin for being from "nowhere." She faults her for failing to have the outward trappings of gravitas. Noonan wants Palin to be more like Noonan. For a pundit who calls herself out as an observer with lofty detachment, Peggy Noonan has missed the significance of a real phenomenon. I think there is very little lofty detachment to be found in the salons of Manhattan and certainly very little recognition of what is essential in life and what is not.
To someone whose penthouse view of America barely extends across the Hudson, Alaska is indeed "nowhere." Unfortunately, moral truth is also nowhere for one whose worldview is so shortsighted. Put the other end of the telescope to your eye, Peggy. ultimately, Noonan has betrayed its use in overheard depth.
Of course, Noonan does not put it that way. She says she deplores Palin for elevating pandering over substance. She says that Palin trivializes politics. But Noonan's complaints about Noonan are all about appearance and not about substance. Yes, she deplores the absence of substance, but what she really means is that Palin is not Noonan.
To charge that Palin is guilty of the "vulgarization" of American politics is simply grotesque. What was done to Palin was grotesque and vulgar. Ms. Noonan could better spend her time deploring that.
Noonan does not understand that Sarah Palin's connection to about half of America is essentially moral, authentic, and uniquely American. Noonan has turned reality on its head and shown that she is herself a hypocrite, or a fool, or both. She pretends to be a pundit who rises above partisanship and speaks to the very essence of things. But here she betrays that she just doesn't get it. Professionally, she is an empty suit.
