Noonan on putting the "Me" in Merit

Peggy Nation takes her hatchet to Dee Cee's Vanity Saloon today.

I'm too lazy to check it myself, but something tells me the brand of egomania she's damning isn't a particularly new phenomenon. What got her revved up is just a rapid series of unusually silly ("Honest Abe Obama") and/or egregious (the Supremes and Eminent Domain) examples.

Also, I don't think the problem can be wholly blamed on Washington itself. Politicos are human beings just like everyone else and they bend and sway to the popular culture. We hardly live in a day and age of reticence and humility, and the vanity she's complaining about certainly doesn't stop at the Beltway's edge. The difference is that when Tom Cruise makes an ass of himself we can all just point and snicker, but when politicians and the judiciary get in on the act, we're much more likely to suffer the consequences.

I don't mean to suggest that she doesn't have a valid gripe, just that the problem is deeper and more systemic than her rant suggests.