The National Enquirer view of Politics

Noonan:  When American's Saw the Real Obama

Readers of the Visible Foot may recall my frustration with Peggy Noonan (see here) due to her backward method of viewing politicians and public policy.  Rather than deciding which politicians are good/bad based upon the goodness/badness of the policies that they espouse - she decides which policies are good/bad based upon the goodness/badness of the person supporting them.  How does she decide which politicians are good/bad?  She somehow distills this from their personality and style.  I recently happened upon this article and it is a perfect example.  Notice the lack of any discussion of policies?  The focus is completely on the President's style and personality.  For comparison here is Noonan's 2008 endorsement of Barack Obama for President - also completely devoid of any discussion of policies.

Noonan's View of the World:

• Good Personality & Style -> Good Person -> Support Policy
• Bad Personality & Style -> Bad Person -> Do Not Support Policy

My View of the World:

• Good Policy -> Support Person
• Bad Policy -> Do Not Support Person

Her's is the National Enquirer view of politics.  Writing about policy details is hard and the masses will find it boring.  So instead focus on the personalities of politicians because Americans love gossip rags!  Of course she would say that I have bad personality / style and hence I am a bad person and therefore my view on this is completely wrong.