Yes, as shocking a confession as it may be for a Progressive, I do miss Ronnie Reagan sometimes.
Oh not his policies, those failed the USA as badly as they failed California when he was Governor here. What I sometimes miss is the man himself.
I miss the way Reagan had of delivering a speech that made you feel like things were going to be alright. Daddy was home now, and the bad guys were in deep kimchee. By contrast, Obama makes a speech, and you leave wondering, "WTF did he just say?".
Ronnie projected calm, authoritative competence, even when he was halfway gone with Alzheimer's. Of course he wasn't all that competent, but he sure faked it well, didn't he? Obama's rhetorical style seems to revolve around waving his hands to distract from the emptiness of his words. (Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!).
I miss the feeling of confidence which was inspired by the leadership of Ronnie Reagan. It may have been false confidence, but it was damned comforting all the same. Obama inspires more the sort of feelings which a father has, watching his 16-year old daughter drive off in the family car for a hot date. Something like, "Please, god, don't let her get preggers or wreck the car..."
Yes, I confess, I was a (wince!) Republican in my youth. And if you don't think being a pro-choice Conservative was an uncomfortable business back in the heyday of the Moral Majority, you are severely lacking in imagination.
Oddly enough, Ronald Reagan was a Democrat when he was younger. Isn't politics strange?
Summing up it all up, I suppose what I really miss isn't Ronald Reagan after all. I suppose what I really miss is being sufficiently young and naive to believe the in the sincerity of politicians. Or Santa Claus.
Do you remember being young, asking our parents awkward questions, and getting that line about "When you're older you'll understand"? Remember that?
Our parents lied.
OK, I've heard too much conservatard veneration of Reagan recently. While I agree that his style of speech making engendered a feeling of safety and security, I wholly agree that his policies failed the U.S. people badly.
ReplyDeleteI will say this for Ronnie though: The man NEVER took crap from ANYONE while he was in the White House. Ronnie by God let every nation on the face of the Earth know that America was a force to be reckoned with, that we had the means to destroy any nation AND the will to USE those means should we be given sufficient cause.
Did I agree with his economic policies? HELL NO!
But I honestly DO miss having a President who stood up to every foreign leader in the world and made me PROUD to be an American!
This is a great post. While I was a bit too young during the Reagan era (between 0 and 5 years old) to have an opinion of him, I definitely grew up among Reagan republicans and considered myself a republican until the George W. Bush administration (I believe I began lifting the veil somewhere around the latter half of September 2001).
ReplyDeleteFunnily enough I can still technically say I voted for Reagan, as my mother brought my infant self into the voting booth with her and had me pull the lever. Forgive me father, for I knew not what I was doing...
But I definitely agree that Obama is the farthest thing possible from a comforting leader. I think the last full speech I heard him make was his Oval Office address regarding the oil spill, and the whole time I was just shaking my head going, "No no no. Yeah, we're doomed."