Got Him Pegged

Peggy Noonan is at it again.  In her latest column, about the opening of the George W. Bush library, she notes:

This week something changed. George W. Bush is back [...] His numbers are dramatically up. You know why? Because he's the farthest thing from Barack Obama. Obama fatigue has opened the way to Bush affection.

We've got Obama fatigue?  How fatigued can we be? Didn't we just reelect him?

She goes on:

Mr. Obama was elected because he wasn't Bush.

Mr. Bush is popular now because he's not Obama.

The wheel turns, doesn't it?

It certainly does for Peggy.  Here's what she was writing four and a half years ago:

Before the election:

[Obama's] victory would provide a fresh start in a nation in which a fresh start would come as a national relief. [...] He is steady, calm, and, in terms of the execution of his political ascent, still the primary and almost only area in which his executive abilities can be discerned, he shows good judgment in terms of whom to hire and consult, what steps to take and moves to make.

[...H]is freedom in office will be limited. Mr. Obama is out of money [...] so what might be assumed to be [his] worst impulses [...] -- big spender -- [...] will be circumscribed by reality.

After the election:

[Obama] is moving forward with what looks like a high, if ad hoc, awareness of the delicacy of the situation. He can't seem presumptuous or aggressive [....] The White House exhibits chastened generosity, refusing to snipe, mock or attempt to undermine.

She was quite taken by him.  Then it slowly dawned on her that he was a solid liberal and she also remembered that she wasn't.  Now that it's too late for it to mean anything, she once again follows the conventional wisdom and suggests maybe he's not as amazing as once thought.

Even then she's wrong about Bush.  If he's getting more popular it's not because people are tired of Obama but because he'd bottomed out and after years of overdone abuse, absence makes the heart grow fonder.

Am I right, or is Peggy?  Who knows, but at least I recognized Obama for what he was four and a half years ago, so I think you should trust me on this one.