In an interview on NPR several weeks ago, former Ronald Reagan speechwriter Peggy Noonan came face to face with what I call The New American Politics. She began the interview with Tom Ashbrook by describing the possibility of a major terrorist attack — one that might do far more damage than the 9/11 attacks — and suggested that Americans should strive to maintain a political culture of unity and seriousness, so that when that horrific day comes, God forbid, we will still have the ability to come together as Americans and respond appropriately.
As I listened to her speak, two thoughts struck me: One was that Peggy Noonan is absolutely right. If the polls are any indication, Americans have little faith in their political leaders, little faith in their government, and little faith in each other. This won’t serve us well if our leaders must ask us to work together and make real sacrifices.
The other thought that struck me was that the New American Politics — a politics in which President Barack Obama and a Democratic Congress are opposed at every turn by an almost militant right-wing minority that considers liberals un-American, unpatriotic occupiers with no legitimate claim to govern their country — will leave our country especially vulnerable to chaos if another attack occurs and our political culture is stretched to its breaking point.
Noonan struck me as a voice of reason on the right. Then came this exchange, prompted when Ashbrook took a call:
ASHBROOK: Let’s go to Mark in Hingham, Massachusetts. Mark, you’re on the air.
MARK: Yes, hi. How are you Tom?
ASHBROOK: I’m all right.
MARK: Listen, I, um, I agree with what Peggy Noonan is saying, and I think it’s great, but it’s a little hard to swallow from Peggy Noonan, and I don’t mean this personally
NOONAN: Oh
MARK: I mean, after all these years, from Lee Atwater to Karl Rove of being called, as a Democrat, unpatriotic, un-American, um, and suddenly, as the Republicans are basically losing power, it’s almost like finding God on the way out.
NOONAN: Oh my goodness. I think that is unjust. I must say, I’ve got to stop you for a second. You never heard me call you or anybody else unpatriotic or Godless or whatever the phrase you used. That is unjust.
ASHBROOK: Mark didn’t say you did but he was looking at the Lee Atwater era, the Karl Rove era.
NOONAN: Oh, my goodness, I’ve spent the last three years attacking the Karl Rove era.
MARK: As I said, this is not personal. I’ve never heard you say anything like this. You’re a good speechwriter. I’ve heard your speeches to Ronald Reagan but what I’m saying is that I have felt, and so have many, many other people, that I’ve been attacked for being unpatriotic for my views, and for being un-American for my views, for many, many years. I’ve always personally felt that–
NOONAN: Do you mean your anti-war views?
MARK: –that Americans are close. You know, I’ve always said that Democrats have always felt, in general, that people should work for a living, and a Republican walking down the street would feel bad if he saw a child starving to death. I’ve always felt that way, but I’ve also been attacked by Lee Atwater and Karl Rove and Dick Cheney for being un-American and unpatriotic because I disagreed with a lot of views of Republicans.
ASHBROOK: Mark, we’ve got the point. Let us pick it up with Peggy Noonan. Peggy, however you interpret that, you can hear the sting that’s been felt out there from an era of politics. Mark feels it vividly. He’s listening to your message of, kind of, reaching out, because we’ve got deep, serious challenges here. He seems attracted to that. And yet, you hear the wariness in his voice because he kind of feels like he’s been stung before.
NOONAN: I don’t think Republicans in general understand the extent to which, when Republicans talk about — in a way, I don’t know where to start. If I can narrow it down, just to Iraq, I’m not sure all Republicans have understood how Democrats have felt when Republicans have talked in support of the war. I’m not sure Democrats, Republicans understood that Democrats felt manipulated and dissed as less patriotic than the Republicans.
ASHBROOK: Turn the radio on any day! You know, you got about a million talk show hosts out there. Start with Rush Limbaugh. Hear the disdain. It’s not, like, subtle.
NOONAN: Well, you can hear that on the left and right. I was thinking of the political leadership in Washington and those that are operatives within Washington. I mean, you can listen to Air America, too, there’s wildness on both sides.
ASHBROOK: (Chuckling) Not very much.
NOONAN: When it comes, yeah, when it comes — and NPR sometimes — when it comes to Washington, I think Republicans, many Republicans, have not appreciated how dissed Democrats have felt on these issues, and I think some Republicans have been absolutely manipulative and used this patriotic stuff to get support for the war. I think it has been most unfortunate. I don’t think they all have. But are there some cynical, oh, and rather cold-blooded political operatives who have thought that way and operated that way, yes. Again, in fairness, I think it happens on both sides but on different issues and in different ways.
ASHBROOK: It’s hard to call Karl Rove “some,” I mean he was right there in the White House. He was leading the Republican Party with George Bush, practically, for a long time. But, some highly placed, we might say, there? Hm?
Peggy Noonan is either woefully ignorant of American politics or she is lying through her teeth. Republicans have used the un-American, unpatriotic line of attack to oppose Democrats on every issue under the sun — not just the war in Iraq. Furthermore, she seems to think these attacks from the right are comparable to attacks on Air America and even, believe it or not, NPR!
In his recent interivew on Meet the Press endorsing Barack Obama, former Secretary of State Colin Powell complained that prominent Republicans are promoting the idea that Obama is a Muslin, presumably to suggest that Obama is in league with the enemy. We’ve heard Congresswoman Michele Bachmann call for an investigation into the anti-American views of Congress. We’ve heard vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin say Obama “doesn’t see America” the way her supporters do, accuse Obama of “palling around with terrorists,” and suggest some parts of America are less patriotic than others. We’ve heard the state chairman of the Virginia Republican Party say that both Obama and Osama Bin Laden have friends that bombed the Pentagon. We’ve heard another Congressman — Hayes — say that liberals “hate real Americans.” And I’ve heard a popular, well-known talk show host suggest repeatedly that Obama is a domestic enemy of the U.S. Constitution.
If there is another terrorist attack, I predict widespread endorsement of conspiracy theories that Obama was responsible for it. Am I wrong to make this prediction?
If Peggy Noonan had the courage of her convictions, she would stop drawing these ridiculous moral equivalencies between the right-wing’s despicable behavior and the left-wing’s relatively mild pushback, and simply denounce these disgusting attacks for what they are: a threat to our national security.