Is it Noonan or is it Not
by Barry Friedman
"It is so hard--so, so increasingly hard--to deal with the dysfunction both in Washington and, dare I say, within myself. Never ever--I mean before this--have I witnessed or experienced such ... such ... how to say this ... discord and pain and strife in the area of governance. It grieves me like an unfaithful lover--the lot of them who ripped my heart out with the precision of the strike on Grenada. I remember when Reagan--and while lovely, the remembering, it is also painful, as I can still see him jaunty and smiling, whether he was calling Nancy or that big bear of a man, Tip, or eating jelly beans or going to Germany to honor fallen soldiers--actually (ahem) governing this country. GOV-ER-NING. It was art, it was music, it made a girl like me, one who never got to go to Vassar, leap with excitement and expectation. It was morning, it was revolution, it was palpable. It is so tough now--so difficult in fact, my hands perpetually wringing, my heart writhing--to witness the dysfunction, desperation, dichotomy, the diggity doubt of this president ... of this country. I would weep, but I have already wept too much."