Reagan Worship

[Hamilcar]

Can someone please explain it to me? It can't just be nostalgia....

[Valmy]

He was worshiped when he was President so no I do not think it is that.

[The Brain]

He survived being shot all fiddylike, AND he won the Cold War. AND his ex-wife was a TV star.

[Admiral Yi]

A lot went right for America during his tenure, in very sharp contrast to everything possible going wrong during Carter's.

[crazy canuck]

Can someone please explain it to me? It can't just be nostalgia....

People remember the good times and forget all the stupid things he did.

[Berkut]

There is a lot to beat up Reagan on, but you have to admit the man had a vision for the country, an idea of what "America" means, and the charisma and will to elucidate it.

Those are qualities that Americans really, really want in a President, and don't often get. It is why some Presidents who objectively have questionable policy records are semi-deified anyway - Reagan and Kennedy being the two somewhat recent and obvious examples of this...

[OttoVonBismarck]

Eh, and plus he's been demonized by the left in subsequent years and venerated (more than is appropriate) by the right. But the real Reagan was a decent President who had some dumb policy positions, some good ones, made some mistakes, and oversaw some good things as well. A selection of polls of historians have him ranked as #15 in aggregate. The value of those is dubious (it starts with the premise you'd accept historians opinions on Presidents above other people's), but I only point them out to explain that Reagan isn't just an earlier version of George W. Bush (a President ranked very poorly by everyone.) Reagan won in a strong showing in 80 and a monstrous landslide in 84, you don't come within a few thousand votes of winning all 50 states (Mondale won Minnesota by less than 5,000 votes) as some far right ideologue with no moderate qualities.

Reagan's veneration by the far right today has lead to people I think retroactively assuming he himself was far right, when he wasn't. Reagan raised taxes on several occasions, and he also oversaw a reform of Social Security Disability Insurance, that was arguably for the better (it may have lead to today's over-use of the system, but it also eliminated barriers to genuinely disabled people receiving benefits.) Reagan also worked with Tip O'Neill to reform Social Security retirement benefits in 1983, touching the dreaded "third rail" of politics and coming away alive, this was a necessary reform to protect the longevity of the system and involved a Republican President working with a Democratic Speaker.

Reagan was not that bad, and back in the 80s even Democrats agreed.

[Barrister]

There was a lot to like about Reagan's abilities as a politician.

In terms of his policies though?  He was probably more talk than action, but there was some positive action conservatives at least can look up to.  After years of detente which appeared to do little to deter the Soviets, he did lead a military build up that did help to end the Cold War.  He took a tough line on unions (firing the air controllers).  He cut taxes, and attempted to simplify the tax code.

[Valmy]

I was a big fan of Reagan personally. He always tried to work with the Democrats and kept things congenial.

I do remember Mondale won like 34-2 in my 1st grade class. I was one of the two right wing nuts voting for Reagan. Winston Churchill thought I had no heart.

[OttoVonBismarck]

I forgot to mention, Reagan also signed an illegal immigrant amnesty.

[Barrister]

I was a big fan of Reagan personally. He always tried to work with the Democrats and kept things congenial.

I do remember Mondale won like 34-2 in my 1st grade class. I was one of the two right wing nuts voting for Reagan. Winston Churchill thought I had no heart.

And where did you go so wrong, after having such a promising future ahead of you Valmy?

[Valmy]

He cut taxes, and attempted to simplify the tax code.

This made my family's taxes go way up. Screwed us big time and tanked the local real-estate market. We still supported him though in the noble effort of restoring sanity to the tax code. *sigh*

[MadImmortalMan]

Reagan's supporters have had lots of practice defending his presidency over the years because people keep asking Hami's question.

So the ball keeps gathering new snow.

[Valmy]

I was a big fan of Reagan personally. He always tried to work with the Democrats and kept things congenial.

I do remember Mondale won like 34-2 in my 1st grade class. I was one of the two right wing nuts voting for Reagan. Winston Churchill thought I had no heart.

And where did you go so wrong, after having such a promising future ahead of you Valmy?

I voted Republican in every election until the Dubya era. I have very erm...Burkean instincts (ironic given my fanboying for historical revolutions and revolutionaries) I guess and the Republicans of the 21st century are waaaaay too radical for my tastes. Bunch of bomb throwing nutters the lot of them.

[citizen k]

It is why some Presidents who objectively have questionable policy records are semi-deified anyway - Reagan and Kennedy being the two somewhat recent and obvious examples of this...

Obama will probably be another. Camelot 2.0.