B3 note: I asked Carolyn Schmidt, our ace citizen journalist in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, to check out the column of Peggy Noonan, the former Republican speech writer, in the weekend edition of the Wall Street Journal.
I enjoy Noonan, a rock-ribbed Republican, but an intelligent and witty one, who is covering the race from afar.
She is looking for a "reasonable" candidate, finds Joe Biden and Tom Dodd "reasonable," finds John Edwards"unreasonable," finds Obama is not "on fire," and doesn't like Hillary Clinton much at all on much of anything. Here is Carolyn's response, filed Sunday, Dec. 30, from the heart of the Iowa campaign. Much more to come, stay tuned.

By Carolyn Schmidt

Cedar Rapids, Iowa--I checked out Peggy Noonan's column. I think she's picking the candidates the Republicans would like to compete with. Of course I disagree with her choice of Romney as "reasonable" and Hillary as "unreasonable" and having a "command and control" mentality. To me, Romney comes across a controller and an opportunist, who will say what he thinks voters will go for but will do as he pleases in the White House. Hillary, as a U.S. Senator and as a former first lady, has had considerably more exposure to foreign policy issues than Romney, as a former state governor and businessman. It's clear that Noonan just doesn't like Hillary personally, in fact I think Hillary is the candidate the Republicans fear most as an opponent in this race. Maybe that's as good a reason as any to nominate her.

And Noonan's comment about Obama not being "on fire" is of course dead wrong--though I agree that he's not likely to go for the theatrics she's afraid of. At least in person, Obama is the most energized of the bunch. That's why he's so appealing to young people as well as to us older folks. She seems to like much about Obama in spite of her remarks about his age and experience. His good judgment, intelligence, skills as a speaker, and his demonstrated concern for the powerless and the abused or ignored are compelling.