I haven’t seen it expressed quite this well before.

Peggy Noonan has not been one of my favorite people. I’ve always admitted to her skill with words, but I’ve also thought she was on the wrong side at best and a hired wordslinger at worst.

For those of you who don’t know much about her, she was first noticed as a speechwriter for Ronald Reagan. Many of those memorable phrases people associate with Reagan originated with Ms. Noonan. She was also chief speechwriter for George Bush the Elder and worked for the 2004 campaign of George Bush the Younger. She has attacked Hillary Clinton in book form and been a great apologist for the Catholic Church. I don’t have much use for any of these points of view.

But Ms. Noonan has written a magnificent summary of why Barack Obama is the best opportunity this nation has had in a long time in her column for the Wall Street Journal. As a central figure of the conservative movement in America, it’s a remarkable admission.

Although the column is a short easy read, there are actually three parts to it. The second part is about McCain and she is far too kind. She paints McCain as “an honest patriot.” But the ugly “win at any cost” campaign that is being waged in his name has turned that into a lie. At least, she does touch on some of the flaws that make McCain the wrong choice.

In the third section, Ms. Noonan returns to the central theme, that the realities of what Bush has done to our nation sharply limit what the new President can do no matter how the election turns out. The “runaway train” of her title refers to a complete Democratic victory that has now become the fear of so many conservatives. Ms. Noonan points out that the train has run out steam now. That will be the central issue that a new President will confront.

She ends on a wonderful note of uplifting hope, however, especially for one so steeped in conservative causes for so long:

Something new is happening in America. It is the imminent arrival of a new liberal moment. History happens, it makes its turns, you hold on for dear life. Life moves.

I don’t recommend other sites too often but I’m making an exception now:

Obama and the Runaway Train