Two very basic pillars in my personal relationship with ex-President Ronald Reagan:
1. His birthplace, Dixon, IL, is adjacent to my parents' hometown and I've driven through it every time we go to visit my grandparents. There's this big friendly white arch that brings you into town. We've passed numerous Nat'l Historic Landmark signs plus the site of his birth-home.
2. Back to the Future:
Despite the fact that we're all Reagan Babies here, we have no memory of his administration nor has history come to an exact consensus on his record. Most of the hindsight I've been hearing sounds awfully partisan. Like any good moderate, I'm taking my apathy for making an opinion and spinning it to look like I'm sagely objective (though actually I'm just waiting for the new edition of the Enduring Vision to tell me what to think).
But I've read every editorial since Sunday and I watched a lot of the Reagan funeral today. I confess, the big Washington ceremonies like this fascinate me. I like all that colorguard foolery and the parades of black limos and the extreme close-ups of Nancy's cheekbones. I like the speakers-- former Canadian PM Brian Mulroney is wicked-sly and quotes Yates-- including the two Bushes. And I know I'm "supposed" to hate them no matter what, but it was a funeral, so they said nice stuff and it wasn't political and even though they're both horrible speakers (especially having to follow PM Brian; by the way, someone named Brian would never get elected in this country), the sentiment was there. And even if it wasn't, I wanted to believe it was sincere, and I think they probably did too. Constantly questioning the administration wears one out after three years, and it's nice to have an hour or two when you sit back and you can think of the government as good people who just want to do the right thing- even though it's not neccessarily. His supporters-- and even some of his detractors-- have been remembering Reagan as a gentle spirit who took on his adversaries with respect and class. I don't know if I should believe this as truth. The sympathy thing, well... A lot of people bring up his failure to fund AIDS research, which is fair but slightly unfair, because you can't saddle one individual with the spread of an epidemic like that. My understandind is, there were lots who dropped the ball on that one. But I can't believe that the current president will ever be remembered as a "gentle spirit." By all accounts, he is an ass. I don't know if that matters in a Presidency. I think his aptitude for being a jerk and his policies are unfortunate, but probably located in separate spheres. But we want to think that they're related. Most of the post-mortem criticism on Reagan has concerned his policies, but the character attacks have been few and petty. I think remembering his as a good guy and a fair (to so-so, to horrible, depending on your politics) president is satisfactory and kinda pleasing.
Or, maybe he was just an ass and he hated AIDS victims and Commies the like. I guess, at someone's funeral, I just feel compelled to send them off as a good person.
1. His birthplace, Dixon, IL, is adjacent to my parents' hometown and I've driven through it every time we go to visit my grandparents. There's this big friendly white arch that brings you into town. We've passed numerous Nat'l Historic Landmark signs plus the site of his birth-home.
2. Back to the Future:
"Then tell me, 'future boy,' who is president in the United States in 1985?"
"Ronald Reagan."
"Ronald Reagan? The actor?! Who's vice president? Jerry Lewis?"
Despite the fact that we're all Reagan Babies here, we have no memory of his administration nor has history come to an exact consensus on his record. Most of the hindsight I've been hearing sounds awfully partisan. Like any good moderate, I'm taking my apathy for making an opinion and spinning it to look like I'm sagely objective (though actually I'm just waiting for the new edition of the Enduring Vision to tell me what to think).
But I've read every editorial since Sunday and I watched a lot of the Reagan funeral today. I confess, the big Washington ceremonies like this fascinate me. I like all that colorguard foolery and the parades of black limos and the extreme close-ups of Nancy's cheekbones. I like the speakers-- former Canadian PM Brian Mulroney is wicked-sly and quotes Yates-- including the two Bushes. And I know I'm "supposed" to hate them no matter what, but it was a funeral, so they said nice stuff and it wasn't political and even though they're both horrible speakers (especially having to follow PM Brian; by the way, someone named Brian would never get elected in this country), the sentiment was there. And even if it wasn't, I wanted to believe it was sincere, and I think they probably did too. Constantly questioning the administration wears one out after three years, and it's nice to have an hour or two when you sit back and you can think of the government as good people who just want to do the right thing- even though it's not neccessarily. His supporters-- and even some of his detractors-- have been remembering Reagan as a gentle spirit who took on his adversaries with respect and class. I don't know if I should believe this as truth. The sympathy thing, well... A lot of people bring up his failure to fund AIDS research, which is fair but slightly unfair, because you can't saddle one individual with the spread of an epidemic like that. My understandind is, there were lots who dropped the ball on that one. But I can't believe that the current president will ever be remembered as a "gentle spirit." By all accounts, he is an ass. I don't know if that matters in a Presidency. I think his aptitude for being a jerk and his policies are unfortunate, but probably located in separate spheres. But we want to think that they're related. Most of the post-mortem criticism on Reagan has concerned his policies, but the character attacks have been few and petty. I think remembering his as a good guy and a fair (to so-so, to horrible, depending on your politics) president is satisfactory and kinda pleasing.
Or, maybe he was just an ass and he hated AIDS victims and Commies the like. I guess, at someone's funeral, I just feel compelled to send them off as a good person.
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