I thought of Webb in his new job this week when I was reading an essay by Peggy Noonan. For a quick background on Peggy Noonan, she is a political writer with a regular column in The Wall Street Journal. I’ve long admired her writing but she won me over completely during the 2008 election when she wrote that Sarah Palin was lacking “the tools, the equipment, the knowledge or the philosophical grounding one hopes for, and expects, in a holder of high office.” Amen to that!
But, back to Webb in his new job. Since a first week can be overwhelming and usually involves learning the ropes I think Webb will appreciate the story below.
In the 1980’s Peggy Noonan was a speech writer for President Reagan. When she first started working in The White House, Noonan had a bad case of new-job-nervous-jitters that she describes in her three stage reaction below:
"Stage One: I hope nobody figures out how stupid I am.
Stage Two, after a few months in the White House: Hey, I'm as smart as everyone else.
Then a few months later came Stage Three: Oh, my God, we're in charge?”
