June 5, 2004, Mourning in America
Former President Ronald Reagan died today at age 93. Over the course of time, though I never voted for him, I came to respect our 40th President a great deal.
To his credit, he and Nancy Reagan never really liked the Bushes. At 93, he lived the longest of any man ever to hold the presidency, and he was the oldest man ever to hold the office.
I'm sure I join all Americans in mourning his passing.
Comments
It was mighty decent of old Ron to drop dead during the election year, so W can point the people to a popular President.
I guess old Ron forgave the Bushes for their association with the Hinckleys.
Don't be surprised to hear W quote old Ron for the next five months, and remind us that old Ron would have wanted us to reelect W. If the country could ignore old Ron's pre-inauguration dealings with Iran, maybe the country can forget what's going on in Iraq.
Thanks for taking one for the team, Ron (again).
Posted by True Republican at June 5, 2004 06:38 PM
I'm sure I join all Americans in mourning his passing.
Are you running for office?
Posted by Social Scientist at June 5, 2004 07:55 PM
TR--
You read my mind. Obviously, his passing closer to the election would have been better-- but hey, Reagan's passing will take Chalabi off the front page for days-- maybe weeks.
You've also been reading my private e-mails with the Unseen Editor. I think it'll be "Win one more for the Gipper". Is Karl and the Gang that crass? LOL.
SS--
I'm not running... I actually HOLD office (of a sort-- I have a kickass sounding title without any actual power, but that's not important); my ultimate boss is a Democrat. BTW-- my first legal job was in the Reagan Administratoin (I worked in Ed Meese's Justice Dept.-- a huge number of layers down the chain at the assistant functionary level). No, this has nothing to do with any of that.
Let me explain it this way: Reagan was a giant-- love him, or hate him (in a few decades time, the same will be said of Clinton-- two term Presidents just get to be giants). Mourning the passing of a President is simple patriotism-- not of the cheerleading kind-- just patriotism. You'll see no hagiography of him from me, and you'll see no gratuitous swipes, either. I was sorry to hear about his Alzheimers, and I'm sorry to see him go. Maybe its the LIBERAL in me.
I happen to wear a flag lapel pin. Our current Fearless Leader, btw, has made "Freedom" his bitch. I'll be damned if he takes the flag and patriotism with him too without a fight.
Posted by the talking dog at June 5, 2004 08:55 PM
I never saw much in him but a guy who could make people weep or cheer with a few choice words--although his elocution never really moved me one way or another. A lot of flag waving. Keep in mind that he was an actor, originally, professionally. Now, maybe the people around him were . . . competent, I dunno.
I'll be keeping my head down in the next few weeks as the encomium rages.
Posted by defib at June 5, 2004 10:05 PM
Encomium is a wonderful word, defib. Thank you. (I still prefer hagiography in the instant context; we may have come here not to praise Reagan, but to bury him, but rest assured Grover Norquist and the gang will now move into overdrive.) The petitions to carve Reagan on Mt. Rushmore will doubtless be flying, and do expect to see endless Reagan tributes at the GOP convention-- even if they forget that most of those who would beatify Reagan are ALREADY in the 40% base (support Bush after he knife-rapes nun on live t.v.)
Do expect "We've got to win THIS ONE for the Gipper" to be blasted endlessly.
I won't mind seeing Reagan praised myself-- I WILL mind seeing him sainted, and will most definitely seeing him coopted by the Grand Old Party's current nincompoop leader.
But that's just me.
Posted by the talking dog at June 5, 2004 10:26 PM
Well, of course, your comments open up the whole conversation of what exactly Reagan did to deserve or not-deserve praise in the first place. There is so much that could be discussed and argued. Some say, and I agree to some extent, that Reagan is best known for dismantling the New Deal. He sure did take the wind out of the union movement in the U.S., for example. Now, I think that the unions had their problems, but the kind of society that Reagan and his followers ushered in has plenty of problems too, just of a different kind. It all comes down to, I suppose, whether in your gut you lean toward capitalism or collectivism. I always thought that the better natures of men were better served by the latter. But I have been mistaken in my idealism before.
Posted by defib at June 5, 2004 11:14 PM
Hmmmm... Let me just say that the nation under Reagan's predecessor was kind of at a psychic lowpoint that it had not seen since the Great Depression (and frankly, only saw once more-- under the elder Bush-- though certainly, a second Junior term will bring on a national psychic depression to match the economic one). Reagan, for whatever reason, turned it around-- the psychic malaise, anyway.
America felt better about itself. Maybe its because we are a stupid country full of idiots who want to be led by a movie actor (actually, that's probably right-- right, Ahnold?)
I found most of Reagan's programs deplorable (which is why I never voted for him), such as the original deficit generating tax cuts (though at least they were across the board and not skewed to the super-rich-- and the Reagan era boom was ALSO across the board, as opposed to a select few).
And, of course, he employed people who made side-deals with Iran (apparently, LOTS of side-deals with Iran-- some persisting to the current day!)
But for whatever reason, in terms of being a national inspiration (think of the first space shuttle debacle...) he was the right guy for the right time with the right message.
I WILL NOT give him credit for "dismantling the Soviet Union"-- which was largely done by its own people, as communism rotted out underneath itself, I WIILL NOT give him credit for any kind of revamping of government-- he simply borrowed money and spent--- just like Junior is doing now. Frankly, the economic boom of late in his term was largely about the business cycle (as are the last few months' job growth), rather than some brilliance from his insane tax cuts.
I WILL, however, give him credit for being an inspiring presence and at least pulling off the illusion of strong leadership at a time when the nation needed it. Badly.
Maybe that's bullshit. Maybe it isn't.
Posted by the talking dog at June 5, 2004 11:35 PM
Reagan (to me) is best known for his "welfare queen" rhetoric and his inaction during the beginning of the AIDS crisis. Of course, when he was governor of California, he also called in the troops against anti-war protestors. I'm sure that there's not too much sorrow in the black and gay communities of America. My only hope is that he no longer suffers from dementia...that way he'll damn sure know what circle of hell he's been condemned to.
Posted by Ronbrynaert at June 5, 2004 11:39 PM
I wonder what the right wing will say about Clinton when Clinton shuffles off this mortal coil.
Posted by defib at June 6, 2004 03:28 PM
Ronbrynaert--
Unfortunately, Reagan made certain POISON discourse o.k. This is one of his many unfortunate legacies-- which I'm not going to debate whether or not they outweighed his fortunate legacies--let me just say that I invariably disagreed with the man on many things, if not almost everything.
defib--
Look for as much graciousness in passing as the hard right has shown him in life (or as much graciousness as they are showing anyone who doesn't equate Reagan with Jesus Christ.
Posted by the talking dog at June 6, 2004 03:33 PM
for those who missed it, Juan Cole had a piece today on his blog (www.juancole.com) which pretty much summed up the reasons why I could never take a shine to Reagan.
All opinion is culturally based. I come from a lower-class childhood where people like Reagan were the oppressors, not the role models (speaking in stronger terms than perhaps is necessary--after all, the nice thing about this society is that it was, and still is, possible to rise above one's social caste if one (a) wants to (b) has the gumption and willingness and (c) realizes he/she wants too *soon* enough in life to make a difference.
Then again, for those of you who have read Paul Fussle's (sp?) book *Class*, it's not just the money that puts you in a higher social circle than the next guy. Money has something to do with it, but it's not everything--and hence the need for the term "Nouveau Riche."
Rambling again.
Posted by defib at June 6, 2004 10:19 PM
defib--
I don't disagree with Juan Cole at all. I didn't vote for the man-- and I personally HAVE freely (and on occasion proudly) voted for Republican candidates. As I said-- I'm not going to debate whether the unfortunate parts of Reagan's legacy outweigh the fortunate parts (for those willing to acknowledge that there WERE fortunate parts). I certainly think there were, and they were not insignificant.
As I commnented on another site, Reagan was neither the left's bogeyman of Genghis Khan, Simon LeGree and George W. Bush rolled into one, nor was he the Second Coming of Jesus Christ (only better-- and not Jewish) as the Right will have us believe.
Reagan was a fiscal revolutionary, though in the end, a disaster on that front; he certainly wanted to gut social programs (even as he wasn't all that successful at doing it). He had some big failures in foreign policy-- though he also got some great breaks (a Soviet Union conveniently falling apart anyway).
However, IMHO he was a rhetorical success, and many people considered him charming. He had great speech writers. Its odd that such seeming trivia is important in this country- but we are kind of a stupid country, not really worthy of all the lucky breaks bestowed on us (though Dubya is doing his damndest to see to it that our luck ends once and for all).
Lest we forget-- he was already an old man when his vice-president's son Neil's friend Scott Hinckley's little brother tried to kill him; I don't really think he ever fully recovered from that-- and a mind already slowing from age decayed that much more rapidly.
Reagan was a two-term President-- a rarity, certainly in the last century, as only the semi-disgraced Clinton, the sainted FDR and Ike, and the racist Wilson got to complete two full terms-- and as such, if for no other reason, Reagan will be treated as a large president. TO be honest, other than the FDR/ Truman continuity (arguably our greatest presidency EVER-- I would argue it) and LBJ (who was besmirched by Vietnam, which was needlessly extended thanks to the treasonous undermining of the Paris Peace Taks by Kissinger at the behest of Nixon), I'm hardpressed to think of a "greater" (in terms of seizing and accomplishing their agenda) President this century-- love him or hate him.
At this point, I still say its too bad that the political air is so poisoned (something we owe in no small part to Reagan himself) by bitter partisanship, so that we can't simply mourn the loss of an important president, and leave it at that.
Posted by the talking dog at June 6, 2004 10:51 PM
well, of course you make good points.
as far as Reagan's oratory was concerned, for some reason I was never moved by it. I have a built-in resistance to oratory that is heavily laden with symbolic, honorific language as opposed to logic (in Aristotelian terms, pathos as opposed to logos).
This is why I thought Gore hammered W. in the debates. But of course I was quickly disabused of the notion that the rest of the country thought the way I do.
Posted by defib at June 7, 2004 10:30 AM
defib--
Gore DID hammer Bush in the debates. Bush came off as the complete ass that he was, and is. The problem became the so-called liberal media quickly spinning a Gore victory into Gore MEAN-SPIRITEDNESS by picking on the REGULAR GUY (as if a Yale legacy n'er do well whose Daddy was President and handed him everything from businesses to baseball teams to a governorship to the damned presidential nomination was A REGULAR GUY).
Won't happen again: (1) Kerry is cagier (and probably nastier) than Gore ever was, and will play accordingly and (2) last time, Gore was "the incumbent"-- now its Bush that has to be on defense. Yes, the spin machines will be in high gear-- but we are in problem times: people will be watching VERY CAREFULLY THEMSELVES-- the spin machines will have to work much, much harder-- and I think most of the Bush voters are the long-converted BASE.
Again: polls show that Bush is BEHIND IN THE SWING STATES. Yes, Bush is ahead overall, with or without St. Ralph, but it does not matter whether Bush wins Texas by 5 votes of 5 million-- and its Dixie that he's strong in, and very few other places. Which means, with 5 months to go, my dream scenario may be in place: Bush would win the popular vote and lose the election.
Which segues back to Reagan: by RHETORICALLY knowing NOT to push buttons that Democrats would immediately get angry about (even while pursuing policies that Democrats SHOULD have gotten angry about) Reagan managed to create a large group of "Reagan Democrats" (remember-- he carried 49 states in '84). Bush, by contrast, LOVES to push the hot buttons: he is an arrogant, stupid little fuck. It may be why, despite not all that many POLICY differences between Reagan and Dubya (remember that Reagan was always checked by a Democratic controlled House-- NOT SO BUSH), many Democrats could embrace Reagan, whereas with Dubya, its just IMPOSSIBLE... "I'm a uniter not a divider MY ASS".
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