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Noonan: When Americans Saw the Real Obama
The Wall Street Journal ^ | 25 October 2012 | Peggy Noonan

Posted on 10/26/2012 7:46:59 AM PDT by Senator Goldwater

Why was the first debate so toxic for the president? Because the one thing he couldn't do if he was going to win the election is let all the pent-up resentment toward him erupt. Americans had gotten used to him as The President. Whatever his policy choices, whatever general direction he seemed to put in place he was The President, a man who had gotten there through natural gifts and what all politicians need, good fortune.

What he couldn't do was present himself, when everyone was looking, as smaller than you thought. Petulant, put upon, above it all, full of himself. He couldn't afford to make himself look less impressive than the challenger in terms of command, grasp of facts, size.

But that's what he did.

Which gets us to Bob Woodward's "The Price of Politics," published last month. The portrait it contains of Mr. Obama—of a president who is at once over his head, out of his depth and wholly unaware of the fact—hasn't received the attention it deserves. Throughout the book, which is a journalistic history of the president's key economic negotiations with Capitol Hill, Mr. Obama is portrayed as having the appearance and presentation of an academic or intellectual while being strangely clueless in his reading of political situations and dynamics. He is bad at negotiating—in fact doesn't know how. His confidence is consistently greater than his acumen, his arrogance greater than his grasp.

People saw for the first time an Obama they may have heard about on radio or in a newspaper but had never seen.

They didn't see some odd version of the president. They saw the president.

And they didn't like what they saw, and that would linger.

(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: arrogance; condescension; debate; obama
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Some of the money lines in this piece:

"His confidence is consistently greater than his acumen, his arrogance greater than his grasp."

"He was often patronizing, which in the old and accomplished is irritating but in the young and inexperienced is infuriating."

"A president who is at once over his head, out of his depth and wholly unaware of the fact"

1 posted on 10/26/2012 7:47:03 AM PDT by Senator Goldwater
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To: Senator Goldwater
Sorry, Peggy, but I can’t forget that you’re part of the reason I’ve just lived through 4 years of hell.
2 posted on 10/26/2012 7:49:36 AM PDT by July4 (Remember the price paid for your freedom.)
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To: Senator Goldwater

Question: When did Peggy Noonan finally see the REAL Obama?


3 posted on 10/26/2012 7:49:39 AM PDT by onyx (FREE REPUBLIC IS HERE TO STAY! DONATE MONTHLY! IF YOU WANT ON SARAH PALIN''S PING LIST, LET ME KNOW)
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To: Senator Goldwater

I sum folks like Obama up in 4 words

“More Ego than Ability”.

You can use a lot more words, but there reali is not reason to.


4 posted on 10/26/2012 7:53:27 AM PDT by HamiltonJay
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To: July4

Oh, come off it. Project much?


5 posted on 10/26/2012 7:53:31 AM PDT by 1rudeboy
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To: Senator Goldwater

I sum folks like Obama up in 4 words

“More Ego than Ability”.

You can use a lot more words, but there really is no reason to.


6 posted on 10/26/2012 7:53:55 AM PDT by HamiltonJay
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To: Senator Goldwater

Nice try, Noonan. You voted for this Leftist AA baby. Your judgment is not very credible.


7 posted on 10/26/2012 7:55:07 AM PDT by txrefugee
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To: onyx
Probably from the beginning.

But now that sees his defeat comin' round the bend, she's banging on conservatives' doors, "Let me in!"

Sorry, Peggy, but the divorce has been declared final.

8 posted on 10/26/2012 7:58:47 AM PDT by Madame Dufarge
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To: Senator Goldwater

thanks for posting.

If Obama has lost Noonan...

:)


9 posted on 10/26/2012 8:00:13 AM PDT by D-fendr (Deus non alligatur sacramentis sed nos alligamur.)
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To: Senator Goldwater
Peggy Noonan telling us how "people" (read: her) for the first time saw Obama as being "out of his depth"? If Obama hadn't caused such damage to this country through both his 2007-8 presidential campaign and his presidency, I could almost laugh at this.

We should never forget the "conservatives" who swooned over Obama -- Noonan, Christopher Buckley, Krauthammer, et al. Never forget the damage they have done and how easily they were owned.


10 posted on 10/26/2012 8:01:49 AM PDT by Cinnamontea
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To: Senator Goldwater

Actually, the petulant, smug, arrogant Obama is the Obama that most conservatives saw four years ago. Why did it take Noonan so long to see this?


11 posted on 10/26/2012 8:02:27 AM PDT by Steve_Seattle
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To: Senator Goldwater

Sell it somewhere else, Noonan. I also remember the worshipful op eds you wrote about Obama back in 2008.


12 posted on 10/26/2012 8:03:43 AM PDT by skeeter
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To: Senator Goldwater
Prissy Peggy, she doesn't even pull of the Eastern Establishment elitist act very well. Her writing style is say something in 500 words when 50 would do. I'm an on line subscriber to the WSJ, the on line comments to her articles are always entertaining, similar to what you'd find here on Free Republic.
13 posted on 10/26/2012 8:06:42 AM PDT by Fair Paul
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To: Senator Goldwater

If we could buy Obama for what he is worth and sell him for what he thought he was worth, we could retire the debt he so recklessly incurred.


14 posted on 10/26/2012 8:07:55 AM PDT by urbanpovertylawcenter (where the law and poverty collide in an urban setting and sparks fly)
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To: onyx; July4

I love how FReepers get down to brass tacks and just NAIL IT so quickly in a thread. And you two just did that.


15 posted on 10/26/2012 8:11:36 AM PDT by FreedomPoster (Islam delenda est.)
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To: Senator Goldwater

I am so tired of these eureka people. We got it day one. Get up to speed.


16 posted on 10/26/2012 8:37:50 AM PDT by mom.mom
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To: mom.mom
I am so tired of these eureka people. We got it day one. Get up to speed.

Eureka people . . . I like that!

I have never been able to figure out how so many have remained so fooled for so long. And, believe me, they're still out there.

17 posted on 10/26/2012 8:41:49 AM PDT by Repealthe17thAmendment (Is this field required?)
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To: Senator Goldwater
Everything in this article was well known before the guy had even beaten Hillary for the nomination. Where were you then, Peggy, off in fantasy land with More Ream Dowdy?

No, you weren't in fantasy land or even caught up in some sort of emotional wave of guilt. You were, like so many other fifth columnists, positive that the democrat fascist victory was total and permanent so you discarded your disguise and very publicly worshiped at the feet of King Barry.

Sorry, Peggy, but no matter what you have to say at this point you've already shown the world that you've really been running a false flag operation on behalf of the democrat fascist nobility all along and don't have a single non-fascist bone in your body.

You're nothing but a tool of the democrat fascist nobility so just shut up and slink off to the scrap heap with the rest of the worn out old tools.

18 posted on 10/26/2012 8:45:34 AM PDT by Rashputin (Jesus Christ doesn't evacuate His troops, He leads them to victory.)
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To: Senator Goldwater
Dear Ms. Noonan:

You could have seen the real 0bama back in 2008, but you chose not to. He was right there for all to see. But you chose to join the ranks of the “conservative” eastern elites and go with the flow and chime in with how exciting and charismatic that Barry was. Just ignore the BOATLOAD of evidence that he was a lying radical muslim marxist with no executive experience but an abiding hatred of American, the Constitution, and free enterprise. Not only that, you helped perpetuate the 0bama myth by using your establishment Republican credentials and your wistful touchy-feely columns to sell the Barry myth and make him “acceptable” to “moderate” Republicans.

Oh, how the wool has been pulled from your eyes, Peggy! Your about-face doesn't fool anyone, except maybe yourself.

19 posted on 10/26/2012 8:51:37 AM PDT by mojito (Zero, our Nero.)
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To: txrefugee

Her judgement here is credible, but like Obama she is arrogant and overconfident and self absorbed. She writes as if her vote and opinions in ‘08 never happened. How could they have happened? The Belle of East Rutherford New Jersey could never have supported someone as clearly overconfident and unprepared as Obama. That must have been an imposter.


20 posted on 10/26/2012 9:22:18 AM PDT by xkaydet65
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