Noonan on the mark

While I regularly disagree with Peggy Noonan's analysis in the Wall Street Journal, she usually has a salient main point in her pieces. So they are pretty simple to break down. Today's is one such piece where she really laid out what that Bret Baier interview really did to this President and in turn showed this country what we are dealing with. The interview, which I commented about the other day, really gave us a window into the delusional ego maniac we have sitting in the White House. I mean, all men seeking that office have to have some ego BUT we have never seen anything quite like this. She describes the interview:

It revealed his primary weakness in speaking of health care, which is a tendency to dodge, obfuscate and mislead. He grows testy when challenged. It revealed what the president doesn't want revealed, which is that he doesn't want to reveal much about his plan. This furtiveness is not helpful in a time of high public anxiety. At any rate, the interview was what such interviews rarely are, a public service. That it occurred at a high-stakes time, with so much on the line, only made it more electric.

On the money Pegster, if I may call you that. As I noted the other day, the squirming was reminiscient of Frost/Nixon. To anyone who has seen the movie or parts of the actual original interviews (they are on PBS every now and then, check it out) when you don't want to answer questions you simply run out the clock. The President expects you to allow him the deference to just ramble on and fill the 20 minutes you have with him with just total nonsense. Bret Baier did not allow this, he interrupted time and again respectfully looking for the answer to the question or to actually explain something that Obama had no clue about:

Mr. Baier interrupts: "Mr. President, you couldn't tell me what the special deals are that are in or not today."

Mr. Obama: "I just told you what was in and what was not in."

Mr. Baier: "Is Connecticut in?" He was referring to the blandishments—polite word—meant to buy the votes of particular senators.

Mr. Obama: "Connecticut—what are you specifically referring to?"

Mr. Baier: "The $100 million for the hospital? Is Montana in for the asbestos program? Is—you know, listen, there are people—this is real money, people are worried about this stuff."

Mr. Obama: "And as I said before, this—the final provisions are going to be posted for many days before this thing passes."

Kudos to Mr. Baier for just doing his job. You know the way the media is supposed to press for answers to difficult questions. The President works for us not vice-versa and this interview should remind people of that. Then Noonan closes with this:

And so it ends, with a health-care vote expected this weekend. I wonder at what point the administration will realize it wasn't worth it—worth the discord, worth the diminution in popularity and prestige, worth the deepening of the great divide. What has been lost is so vivid, what has been gained so amorphous, blurry and likely illusory.

This is where i diverge with Peggy,I don't think this administration cares about the drop in prestige and popularity. If it passes, Pelosi,Obama,etc. will have passed what has eluded the far left of this country for decades...health care for all. That will be worth it to them. And for that reason my belief is sadly that the process and all of this back and forth will be swept under the rug, forgotten. They bank on the short memories of the general public, and realize their most certain defeat in November is a small price to pay for transforming the country.