They have stars in their eyes when President Reagan is discussed, and then excoriate our current President Bush for things that President Reagan did as well, but they are unaware of the practicalities of actual executive service.
For me, I was wary of President Reagan when he first came into office, but I grew to trust him over the years. I found I agreed with much that he did, and that he wasn't the trigger-happy cowboy the media had made me fear.
In his latter years in office, when the media was calling him senile, I remember saying often that I'd trust him senile to make better decisions than the Democrat contender in his prime.
Later, when he really began to suffer memory problems, I dropped that line; but I still feel that way. He was good to the bone.
I wish he had actually been more of the Rightist, trigger happy type the media tried to make everyone afraid of. I wish he'd actually disbanded a few of the agencies he said he wanted to disband and I wish that he'd gotten his way on more of the military projects he was pushing.