Out With the Old, In With the New

Ms. Noonan is spot-on. Two things struck me about last night's events. One, the nice guys finished first. For the first time in as long as I can remember, there was a truly likable, charismatic candidate in each party, and these were our winners in the caucuses. Obama's victory speech gave us '60s-style inspiration without the modern smugness; Huckabee's post-caucus remarks were similarly straight-arrow. Yet one wonders whether, for either of them, personal style will be enough.

My second thought was on Obama's victory. It was a triumph for the nation that a black man should resoundingly win the endorsement of an overwhelmingly white majority--a triumph not so much against racism, but against the notion that racism is as universal as so many still believe. The true promise of America, that we will recognize and reward merit and hard work regardless of race or background, was proven last night in Iowa.

Whatever happens next, it was a great night for us all.

Well said, Ms. Noonan. I am one open-minded evangelical (there are many of us, believe me) who is still not sure Huckabee is my person for the White House. I am not even sure a Republican is my party for the next White House occupant.

I do not always agree with your work but I must say I think you have really got it right on Huckabee. My sense of him is that he is another charlatan from Arkansas (in many instances, his actual policies are not that different from the first Arkansas President). I also thought the line about Romney was a moment where the snake oil salesman really shone through. At that point he showed he was just another politician capitalizing on faith--although he is obviously much better at it than most--and not a man of faith who happens to be running for office. Hopefully the rest of the country sees through this charade soon.

Once again, Ms. Noonan, you gave voice to my thoughts. I'm a relatively open-minded conservative evangelical Christian. I love Mr. Huckabee's articulate and witty persona, but I worry about his depth and breadth when it comes to world affairs.

Is he my choice? Not yet.

Ms. Noonan, as usual, has succeeded in distilling out some of the key and crucial lessons from last night's returns. As a conservative evangelical Christian, I wholeheartedly agree with her opinion of Governor Huckabee. As has been said by those so much more eloquent, we thought we were getting something when the current President took office. Though he has been outrageously and at times wrongfully vilified, he has been a disappointment on the exact issue Ms. Noonan cited: the culture at large and the concerns of the average American. Mr. Huckabee, with his big spending ways, and his abominable pardoning of hundreds of convicted felons, is not a man I'd like to see dig us deeper into the hole that we are already in.

I agree with Ms. Noonan that Huckabee is riding a wave. But waves crest and recede and new water comes along. This whole campaign seems to have been one of ebb and flow among the Republicans. The front runners seem to all have flaws which can be exploited by the opposition (either within the party during the primaries, or during the general election).

I think Huckabee will hit a ceiling and recede. His evangelical-type base will not reach the rest of the country. I wish the man no ill; I heard him speak in D.C. last year, and I met him afterward. He was a very moving speaker. That said, I do not see him translating to the greater portion of the electorate. Can this guy prevail in a general election against Hillary Clinton? I do not know. The big news for me is that Clinton is off to a rocky start. I always figured that she was "inevitable." I always thought that the Democrats would hold party discipline and coronate her. I guess not. There is hope for the future of the republic.

I am neither a Huckabee supporter nor an evangelical Christian, but when Ms. Noonan declares that the federal government has a limited ability to change the culture, I would remind her that Reagan helped get the U.S. out of its malaise, Giuliani made New York City governable, and Thatcher turned Britain from Socialist to Capitalist, while completely changing the culture.

Maybe Ms. Noonan meant to say the presidency has limited ability to change the culture of America, because the federal government sure does have the power. One needs to look no further than the Supreme Court decisions concerning religious expression in public schools and the legalization of abortion to confirm this fact.

The Huck may be riding a wave, indeed. Part of it is the fact that millions of weary taxpayers swore they'd back the first politician to recommend the Fair Tax idea (or something like it) to the ends of the earth. Don't think Jerry Ford and WIN buttons; think Mao and the Long March.

Those in the power centers understand little of the people's resentment of the federal income tax and its infernal twin, withholding. The people paying for this silliness don't just feel ripped off and overwhelmed by its inscrutable complexity; they feel insulted.

Ms. Noonan says that people support Huckabee because "...they believe that what ails America...is our culture," but that this is misguided thinking because "...the federal government has a limited ability to change the culture of America." I disagree. The federal government has become the fountainhead, the very embodiment of the cultural fascism which is destroying our culture. The mice are in the woodwork and must be driven out.

As for me, the Huckabee "tipoff" was his supposed obliviousness to the Cross (the lighted reflection off of a bookshelf) in one of his commercials. Sure, there is a wink to us Christians but this one demands honesty.

You're right, Ms. Noonan. This is huge. For decades, in my opinion, Democrats have been acting like codependants, enabling and propping up the Clintons no matter what. Maybe they have had enough. I could see "the new" in Bill Clinton's eyes at his wife's faux-concession speech last night. The Clintons haven't lost an election since 1980: he looked shocked to the core. As to Gov. Huckabee, we'll see how he does in non-evangelical New Hampshire.

I am, and remain, a big fan of Ms. Noonan's commentary. She is a consistently clear-minded voice in our world of shifting values. I am confused, though, by her apparent praise of Governor Huckabee's Mormon-bashing rhetoric.

To summarize Mormon doctrine by saying that Mormons believe Jesus and the Devil are brothers is a gross mischaracterization.

It is true that the Mormon faith regards the Devil as a fallen angel; in accordance to scriptures in the books of Isaiah and Revelation. And, as angels are believed to be the children of God, like Jesus, the Devil is a spiritual relative to all of God's creation.

I suspect that Governor Huckabee was less interested in drawing people's attention to these obscure corners of the Bible and more interested in misrepresenting the Mormon faith, as a way to breath life into his campaign. Or, perhaps he was really signaling that his own knowledge of, or belief in, the Bible was something short of what one should expect from an ordained minister.

If his comment was intended to make the Mormons a stepping-stone on his path to the presidency, his words are hardly deserving of Ms. Noonan's praise. Furthermore, if it is true that the rallying point of his campaign was this phrase, this sort of single-issue candidacy will not carry the party through to November. Unless, of course, the "underserved part of the voting demographic" that rallies around anti-Mormon sound bites is large enough to carry the election.

Would Ms. Noonan call Clinton or Edwards "clever" if they attempted to undermine Obama by making watermelon jokes?

Ms. Noonan, thank you for yet another great article. As a Reagan conservative who voted for Bush, I have decided to vote for Obama this time.

The federal government can change the culture by cutting back on welfare, making teachers accountable, strictly following the Constitution, and by doing the business of the country in Congress instead of wasting time on petty issues.