About every 3 or 4 weeks, Peggy Noonan’s WSJ column has something worthwhile to say. The September 14 column was one of those times. Talking about Biden, she cites ‘Whatever it Takes’, Richard Ben Cramer’s history of the 1988 presidential campaign, which she says presages a great deal of what we observe each day of Mr. Biden, and it is suggestive of the origins of the Hunter Biden problems and allegations.
For one thing, Joe Biden has always been obsessed by real estate and fancy houses, and money was always an issue. On a house he would buy a few years into his first Senate term: “The house is gorgeous, an old du Pont mansion in the du Pont neighborhood called Greenville, outside Wilmington. It’s the kind of place a thousand Italian guys died building—hand-carved doorways, a curbing hand-carved grand staircase that Clark Gable could have carried a girl down, a library fit for a Carnegie. . . . And a ballroom—can’t forget the ballroom.” He bid more than he had, “but Biden never let money stand in the way of a deal. He got in the developer’s face and started talking—fast.” He got the house—he always got the houses—and thereafter scrambled to cover its cost.
He wanted it all and had a sharp eye for how to get it. There is a beautiful speech Cramer presents as Mr. Biden’s. He was sitting around a back yard in Wilmington with friends when his sons were young, and Mr. Biden asked, “Where’s your kid going to college?”
His friend said, “Christ, Joe! He’s 8 years old!” Another implied it wasn’t important.
“Lemme tell you something,” Mr. Biden says, with a clenched jaw. “There’s a river of power that flows through this country. . . . Some people—most people—don’t even know the river is there. But it’s there. Some people know about the river, but they can’t get in . . . they only stand at the edge. And some people, a few, get to swim in the river. All the time. They get to swim their whole lives . . . in the river of power. And that river flows from the Ivy League.”
A lot of hungers, resentments and future actions were embedded in that speech by Joe Biden, Syracuse Law, class of ’68. They aren’t the words of an unsophisticated man but of a man who wanted things—houses, power, the glittering prizes—and who can’t always be talked out of them.
For one thing, Joe Biden has always been obsessed by real estate and fancy houses, and money was always an issue. See my related post Harvard and America and the discussion here at Chicago Boyz.
Rather strongly reminiscent of the “Chaos is a ladder” speech from Game of Thrones (I wonder if Joe has ever seen it – maybe he did and nodded knowingly at every pregnant word.)
The last person you want in a position of power, especially political power, is somebody that needs the money.
Of course, all of this could be a coincidence:
https://nypost.com/2023/09/25/offering-dirt-on-hunter-bidens-fbi-mole/
And Joe is a selfless humanitarian that being misunderstood and misconstrued.
But he’s affable! Doesn’t that count for something in a a president?
Here’s a list of 20th century presidents:
Theodore Roosevelt Harvard
William Howard Taft Yale
Woodrow Wilson Princeton
Warren G. Harding Ohio Central College
Calvin Coolidge Amherst
Herbert Hoover Stanford
Franklin D. Roosevelt Harvard
Harry S. Truman Spalding’s Commercial College (1 Year)
Dwight D. Eisenhower United States Military Academy
John F. Kennedy Harvard
Lyndon B. Johnson Texas State University
Richard Nixon Whittier College
Gerald Ford University of Michigan
Jimmy Carter United States Naval Academy
Ronald Reagan Eureka College
George H. W. Bush Yale
Bill Clinton Georgetown
George W. Bush Yale
Barack Obama Columbia
Donald Trump University of Pennsylvania
Joe Biden University of Delaware
I got everything but Harding and Truman form here:
https://www.niche.com/blog/where-presidents-went-to-college/
We both forgot Harding, I imagine a lot of people do.
For those keeping score:
Harvard 3
Yale 3
Princeton 1
University of Pennsylvania 1
Columbia 1
9 out of 21, 43%. 5 out of 14 since 1950.
Not a sure thing but considering the number of colleges and universities in the country, a huge over-representation.
she endorsed him over trump didn’t she,
“Not a sure thing but considering the number of colleges and universities in the country, a huge over-representation.”
Do the federal judges?
I had a slightly different take on Noonan’s article, especially the quotation from Cramer’s book.
I have noticed that the Establishment handles internal issues in a peculiar way, especially in the age of Trump. There can be disagreement, but only when couched in cant, narratives, and symbols so as not to give comfort.to the regime’s enemies (MAGA). You see that with the big story that is powering the undercurrent of DC right now which is the effort.to get Biden off the ticket. Publicly.the solid.wall of support is still there but you see the messaging of.dohbts , the occasional story concerning his age, a terrible poll. Given the approaching deadlimes.for filing for.primaries they are also.running out of.time
Noonan as an Establishment conservative (anti Trump) operates in the same manner, the.key thing she says is not the.content of argument but the issue she raises. Her column before this one dealt with Biden’s lying which she described and then wrote off to the habits of a.previous era (https://www.wsj.com/articles/bidens-fibs-are-a-20th-century-throwback-corn-pop-foer-unions-2024-e29a484a) In the kabuki dance of the Establishment even what appears extraneous.is.laden with symbolism and meaning.
So.what was she trying to say at the end of her.article with a long quotation from a.30+ year old book? The unbridled ambition and resentment that has driven Biden for all his political life, yes but those mare pretty common characteristics in DC. The.part that struck me.was this “He got the house””he always got the houses””and thereafter scrambled to cover its cost.”
Left unsaid.but implied.was.how.a.politician who lived beyond his means would cover his costs. How do you raise the issue of corruption within the Establishment without actually using the.word corruption?
“Do the federal judges?”
You do the federal judges, I have a job already. I’d expect the same pattern, especially at the appellate level except based on law school rather than undergrad.
“There can be disagreement, but only when couched in cant, narratives, and symbols so as not to give comfort.to the regime’s enemies (MAGA).”
This is the way things worked in the Soviet Union and still in China also see Catholic Dogma. When reality clashes with the narrative, it’s because you’re not perceiving reality correctly.
Noonan hasn’t written anything worth reading since long before the WSJ stopped being worth reading as well.