Ronald Reagan's Brain Is Still Alive and Working

Peggy Noonan may be one of the best thinkers to have ever crawled out of America's political morass. It helps that she carves words, ideas and paragraphs like a jeweler.

Here is what she said about Thursday's Iowa primary and the two putative rivals for the Democratic ticket:

"Hillary Clinton, the inevitable, the avatar of the machine, lost.

"It's huge. Even though people have been talking about this possibility for six weeks now, it's still huge. She had the money, she had the organization, the party's stars, she had Elvis behind her, and the Clinton name in a base that loved Bill. And she lost. There are always a lot of reasons for a loss, but the ur-reason in this case, the thing it all comes down to? There's something about her that makes you look, watch, think, look again, weigh and say: No.

"She started out way ahead, met everyone, and lost.

"As for Sen. Obama, his victory is similarly huge. He won the five biggest counties in Iowa, from the center of the state to the South Dakota border. He carried the young in a tidal wave. He outpolled Mrs. Clinton among women.

"He did it with a classy campaign, an unruffled manner, and an appeal on the stump that said every day, through the lines: Look at who I am and see me, the change that you desire is right here, move on with me and we will bring it forward together."

Powerful words of praise from Ronald Reagan's speech writer.

Peggy goes on to write about Huck:

"Everyone said Mike Huckabee was a big dope to leave Iowa Wednesday to fly to L.A. to be on Jay Leno, but did you see him on that thing? He got off a perfect line on why he's doing well against Romney: 'People are looking for a presidential candidate who reminds them more of the guy they work with rather than the guy that laid them off.' The studio audience loved him. And you know, in Iowa they watch 'The Tonight Show' too.

"Mr. Huckabee likes to head-fake people into thinking he's Gomer Pyle, but he's more like the barefoot boy of the green room. He's more James Carville than Jim Nabors."

Again, powerful words of praise from someone who knows something about turning a phrase.

But as I did, she has a warning for Huck, and that warning is that Ed Rollins is a disaster choice for campaign manager:

"His next problem may be not so much New Hampshire as Ed Rollins, the Reagan White House political aide who came in a week ago to manage his campaign. Mr. Rollins began his tenure announcing to respectful young reporters that he -- 'the grizzled veteran,' the 'old battler' -- would like to sink to his knees and 'shoot Romney in the groin' and 'punch his teeth out.' Such class is of course always welcome on the trail, but one senses the verbal ante will constantly be upped, and I'm not sure that will work well for Mr. Huckabee. Self inflated dirigibles, especially unmoored ones, can cast shadows on parades.

Bingo! Read the whole thing.
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