Noonan Alert: Special "Inside Voice" Edition, Part II

For Part I, click here. We now continue with Part II, in which Peggy Noonan talks to herself:

You want to discuss the appointment of Condi Rice to State.

Ssssshhhhhhhh. She is a good person; she has experience and accomplishments.

She is stable, hardworking and sophisticated.

She is also--this is breathtaking, still--a young black woman raised to the position first held by Thomas Jefferson.

It is considered corny to point this out.

But corny's not all bad. Look at it this way.

In every U.S. embassy and consulate in the world very soon, non-Americans will walk in to see two things: a picture of the American president and next to it a picture of the young black woman who is this nation's secretary of state.

They will notice this, and consciously or not they will think: This truly must be some kind of country.

Is there a drawback to her appointment?

There must be. There is a drawback to everything.

The Bush cabinet is getting very Bushian.

That sends a clear message.

But you don't always want to send a clear message.

Sometimes you want to confuse things. Sometimes you want to give an unclear message to the world so that it will sit down and scratch its head, in silence.

When Colin Powell was secretary of state, foreign leaders didn't know exactly where he stood, either in terms of policy or internally, in his place in the Bush hierarchy. It confused them.

This was so wonderful.

They confided all sorts of things to him because they didn't know what he'd respond to or how or what he'd bring home and wouldn't.

It's good when foreign leaders confide.

It can be good when they don't know.

More head scratching, I say.

More "ssssshhhhhhhh."

The criticism of Ms. Rice has been fascinating.

Her critics need to sit down and have a Coke, as Bob Dole said.

A friend said to me yesterday, "She is boring." I thought, really?

You can't be boring enough; we've had quite enough excitement.

Another person said, "She's not very feminine."

My first thought was: Neither was Colin. My second thought was: How startling is this conversation?

I should probably explain it was held in Manhattan.

"I think she is extremely ladylike in her bearing and manner," I said.

"Soft voice, pastel suits, heels, not a hair out of place."

"Yes," my friend said, "but she doesn't give off any sparks of sexuality." "That's another thing I like about her", I said.

We don't want a secretary of state running around giving off sparks of sexuality, do we.

We don't want a secretary of state giving off sparks at all.

We want a nice, quiet, calming, competent, sophisticated, even-keeled person to do a good, solid, nonshowy job.

Why do I think President Bush picked her?

Because he knows her, trusts her, and knows she'll take care of State while he takes care of the CIA, which will be another great Bushian battle.

She managed the National Security Counsil (sic); she'll manage State.

It's fine.

Don't fuss.

Ssssshhhhhhhh.

That is good advice for the CIA, too.

What has been happening there is remarkable.

That we would have our central foreign intelligence agency OKing attack books that knock White House foreign policy, and during a close presidential campaign is remarkable. Unprecedented.

Not good.

The strangeness and immaturity of the resigning CIA officials' complaint --

-- that Porter Goss's Hill staffers, new to the agency, had been rude to them!

--was best captured by Cliff May in National Review Online. May said: Would James Bond whine that Moneypenny had been rude to him? Would he run to Q and say, She got in my face, she was brusque, boo-hoo?

I don't think so.

I think he'd suck it up and have a moody drink.

I think James Bond would look at the members of the American intelligence and say, "Ssssshhhhhhhh."