Peggy Noonan's trenchant analysis of the national economy by way of perambulation and anecdote:
The other day I was in a Wal-Mart in southern Florida. It was Sunday afternoon on a holiday weekend but even accounting for that the mood and look of the place was different from what it was two and five years ago. Then, things seemed dynamic--what buys, what an array of products, what bustle in the aisles. This time it seemed tired, frayed, with fewer families and scarcer employees.
What bustle! What buys!
Ms. Noonan also forecasts presidential elections based on the frequency of her white, Republican, affluent candidate's yardsigns posted in white, Republican, affluent neighborhoods.
I'd like to think I can take credit for that last graf re "Noonan sees Romney yard signs! He can't lose!" but I know I'm not alone in beating that drum. It was just such a perfect exemplar of "Village conventional wisdom vs. reality" delusion, I can't let it go. Screw Nate Silver and his "analysis," I saw YARD SIGNS!
But geez, if this isn't precisely the same fucking thing. "Walmart wasn't hopping the one time in the last five years I left my cocoon built out of piles of money acquired (not earned) from spouting nauseating right-leaning conventional wisdom bullshit ever since I swooned for St. Reagan's foot in 1980 to visit one! Obama is the worst economy guy ever!"
Posted by: Turgidson | February 22, 2013 at 02:58 PM
Do they have WalMarts in Boca Raton?
Posted by: sueme | February 22, 2013 at 03:24 PM
Getting red noses and stomping on kittens.
Brown colored bottles and shilling for Mittens.
Imagining Zeitgeists and predicting downswings.
These are a few of Peg's favorite things.
Posted by: Peter G | February 22, 2013 at 03:43 PM
Oh, this is hilarious. She can write this misty melancholy stuff because no one reading it has been inside of a Wal-Mart. Ever. So she's free to use it as metaphor, inventing whatever landscape she needs to make her Peggy-point. Weeds in the parking lot, idle hot-dog vendors, fewer smiling greeters keeping active in those retirement years, less work for the 'enthused' 'associates', longer lines of food-stamp recipients -- all one sad reflection of Obamacare. [Which caused Black Friday, also too]
Posted by: nancy | February 22, 2013 at 03:53 PM
This is a gem:
"And then you remind yourself why. Because Mr. Obama thrives in chaos. He flourishes in unsettled circumstances and grooves on his own calm. He spins an air of calamity, points fingers and garners support. His only opponent is a hapless, hydra-headed House. America has a weakness for winners, and Republicans just now do not look like winners. They have many voices but no real voice, and no one saying anything that makes you stop and think. Mr. Obama, on the other hand, is a singular character who tells you in measured tones that we must have measured answers. Half the country finds his politics to be too much to one side, but his temperament is not extreme and he often looks reasonable. With this gift he ties his foes in knots to get what he wants, which is higher taxes. He wants the rich to pay more and those he judges to be in need to receive more. End of story. Debt and deficits don't interest him, except to the extent he must give them lip service. "
President Obama "grooves on his own calm."
On the other hand, in the very same paragraph, there's this:
"Debt and deficits don't interest [sic], except to the extent [sic] must give them lip service."
OK, but enough about Republicans in Congress....
Posted by: Bulworth | February 22, 2013 at 04:09 PM
Let's see:
Noonan shops at WalMart, Brooks eats at Applebee's and the Romneys shop at Costco.
Why do I believe none of those things.
Posted by: japa21 | February 22, 2013 at 04:34 PM
"Mr. Obama thrives in chaos."
Yes, that's why his White House is so much like Animal House. I've been around a long time and I've never seen a politician as UNLIKELY to encourage chaos as Barack Obama. Everything that he has any control over runs like clockwork. There have been no actual scandals in his administrations. (Despite efforts by RWNJs to drum then up.) Peg is getting stranger all the time.
Posted by: Beauzeaux | February 22, 2013 at 05:04 PM
She may have a scintilla of a point in that I think Obama understands the political value in looking like an oasis of calm among the hurricane of chaos and stupid that surrounds him in Washington.
But...he does not invite this bullshit and if he could just get things done with Congress in a remotely reasonable and adult way, he'd much rather do that than engage in this unfathomably stupid gamesmanship that seems to accompany every important issue now, thanks to the exhaustingly tedious GOP we're currently stuck dealing with.
Posted by: Turgidson | February 22, 2013 at 07:21 PM
As if she would ever step foot inside a Wal-Mart. The maid must have been off that day.
Posted by: AnneJ | February 22, 2013 at 08:43 PM