'He's Got Two of 'Em': Why I can't stop being happy about the election result.

Peggy Noonan is a terrific writer; and this piece is no exception. An excellent read and worth the time to savor the whole article.//JW sends.

The journalist and economist who followed me on the panel said some serious big things. One said he could quite imagine Mr. Bush defying the second administration curse, in part because of his boldness: He means it about Social Security reform, for instance, and he's going to do it. The economist was convinced Mr. Bush will move big time against the estate tax, which we call the death tax, and on capital gains. No one, however, predicted lower spending. There was a sense that once again Mr. Bush will trade spending for progress in other areas, and let that progress lower the size of the deficit down the road.

There was a nice moment in the Q&A, which I'll share. I was asked by Stephen Moore about comparisons of Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush, how they are alike and how they differ. I told him I normally don't answer that question from journalists because they always turn it into a sort of "but she conceded Bush lacks Reagan's rhetorical gifts" kind of thing. I don't know why liberal journalists enjoy comparing Mr. Bush with Reagan. They never wanted to compare JFK's leadership style with the giant who preceded him 15 years before, FDR, and they never compared Bill Clinton's rhetoric to JFK's. But Stephen was asking not as a mischievous journalist, so I said I'd answer.

I just recounted something that has stayed in my mind. About a year ago I was visiting West Point, and I was talking to a big officer, a general or colonel. But he had the medals and ribbons and the stature, and he asked me what I thought of President Bush. I tried to explain what most impressed me about Mr. Bush, and I kept falling back on words like "courage" and "guts." I wasn't capturing the special quality Mr. Bush has of making a tough decision and then staying with it if he thinks it's right and paying the price even when the price is high and--

I stopped speaking for a moment. There was silence. And then the general said, "You mean he's got two of 'em." And I laughed and said yes, that's exactly what I mean. And the same could be said of Reagan.