Americans Vote for Maturity

Peggy Noonan talks about the differences in the Tea Party candidates and that just being Conservative is not enough. You must also have seasoned candidates, that have been around the block, and have the ability to get their conservative beliefs front and center.

The blurb on Ronald Reagan is a telling story of someone ready to lead our great nation. Compare it to the neophyte currently residing in the White House and you will see see where the people have gone wrong.

I agree with most conservative commentators that Palin has more experience than does Barack Obama. But is that enough. Surely, in the case of Obama, it certainly is not.

Peggy is right on when she says, "it's not just the message, it's the messenger".

Excerpt: Ronald Reagan was an artist who willed himself into leadership as president of a major American labor union (Screen Actors Guild, seven terms, 1947-59.) He led that union successfully through major upheavals (the Hollywood communist wars, labor-management struggles); discovered and honed his ability to speak persuasively by talking to workers on the line at General Electric for eight years; was elected to and completed two full terms as governor of California; challenged and almost unseated an incumbent president of his own party; and went on to popularize modern conservative political philosophy without the help of a conservative infrastructure. Then he was elected president.

The point is not "He was a great man and you are a nincompoop," though that is true. The point is that Reagan's career is a guide, not only for the tea party but for all in politics. He brought his fully mature, fully seasoned self into politics with him. He wasn't in search of a life when he ran for office, and he wasn't in search of fame; he'd already lived a life, he was already well known, he'd accomplished things in the world.

Here is an old tradition badly in need of return: You have to earn your way into politics. You should go have a life, build a string of accomplishments, then enter public service. And you need actual talent: You have to be able to bring people in and along. You can't just bully them, you can't just assert and taunt, you have to be able to persuade.

Americans don't want, as their representatives, people who seem empty or crazy. They'll vote no on that.

It's not just the message, it's the messenger.

Read Peggy Noonan's full WSJ article here.