Posted on 06/14/2009 12:56:05 PM PDT by reaganaut1
For a liberal Democrat, President Obama has offered generous praise for the most celebrated of his recent Republican predecessors.
Mr. Obama has credited Ronald Reagan with having “changed the trajectory of America” in ways Bill Clinton didn’t. “President Reagan helped as much as any president to restore a sense of optimism in our country, a spirit that transcended politics,” Mr. Obama said earlier this month while signing the Ronald Reagan Centennial Commission Act in the presence of Nancy Reagan.
It’s not surprising that Mr. Obama has embraced Mr. Reagan’s achievement since it seems akin to his own aspirations and might also ingratiate him with conservatives. What is surprising is the increasingly ambiguous position Mr. Reagan holds on the right.
Some Republicans have begun reassessing whether Mr. Reagan today affords the best example as they seek a path back to power. The economic crisis, which Mr. Obama last fall declared a “final verdict” on the anti-government philosophy that George W. Bush and Mr. Reagan shared, has made Reaganism less politically marketable than at any time in a generation.
“I don’t use him publicly as a reference point,” said Gov. Mitch Daniels of Indiana, a Republican who lately has emerged as a potential national party leader. Mr. Daniels instead has urged fellow Republicans to “let go” of Mr. Reagan as a contemporary symbol.
As Mr. Reagan’s White House political director, Mr. Daniels brings credibility to the discussion. A year ago, when he first proposed that Republicans turn the page he drew sharp criticism from Rush Limbaugh, among others. Now, Mr. Daniels observes, “I think it’s spreading.”
That’s not to say Republicans disavow Mr. Reagan’s achievements, which include cutting tax rates, presiding over the successful conclusion of the cold war and, as Mr. Obama noted, boosting morale after a period of national self-doubt.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
You forgot “clean”.
More wishful thinking from the Times.
SnakeDoc
I love Ronald Reagan, but it has been a long time since he was president. The GOP is in danger of becoming like the Democrats were in the 70’s and 80’s - left with little more than to babble about the long departed FDR, who was little more than a distant memory from the past for the younger generations.
They don’t even worry that they telegraph “it’s propaganda”.
Why is the left still scared of President Ronald Reagan?
Oh wait, I think I know... his policies worked, they were correct and they weren’t liberal. If the GOP held true to the values of Ronald Reagan they wouldn’t lose another election.
Oh, those great journalists.....
I don’t have to rethink a damn thing about Ronnie. What the NYT should rethink is anything remotely resembling comparing Zer0 favorably with him. The thought is just ludicrous.
Heard Friday, maybe on Levin’s show, that Obie doesn’t want to use CBO numbers any more.
Funny how liberal writers always present such challenging questions of conservatism as if it is everybody’s view and not just their own beliefs. Harwood always defends democratic spending proposals and even accused Mark Haines of provoking Barney Frank into cutting his interview when it was very clear to everyone else that Frank was acting like a petulant child.
IMHO, It is this “rethinking” that is causing Americans to break away from the GOP. The GOP has traded Reagan for Mehgan.
I want to cry every time the media or that moron the illiterate foolish masses elected utter President Reagan’s name. The lieberal media is still bitter that so many people still believe in “Reaganism” and that President Reagan is still as popular as he is.
Obamamessiah craves the respect and legacy of Reagan while simultaneously loathing Bill Clinton for comments made during the `08 campaign. Nothing more - nothing less.
Well .. maybe “some” repubs are giving up the Reagan legacy .. but I’m not one of them. I’d rather take my chances with Cheney, Palin, Limbaugh and Beck.
They’d do well to nominate someone with his ability to connect to the public. Because I personally don’t see anyone in the ranks who has anything close to the warm, comfortable style and eloquence that Reagan had.
Additionally, Mitch can take his DST and stuff it.
The only ones rethinking are the mushy RINOs, moderates and liberals. Conservatives know that Reagan was and is and always will be the real deal.
Moderates do so at their own risk.
Only if Republicans remain as brain dead on the causes of the economic crisis as the RINO who regrettably was the Republican nominee last fall. The economic crisis was largely caused by stupid energy policies that led to $147 crude oil, and the sub-prime crisis that came to a head concurrent with the energy cost crisis.
Dems were largely responsible for both those causative factors. We just don't have enough Republicans telling the American people what really happened.
If Republicans would get off their rear ends and grow a spine, they could render a "final verdict" on Obama and his nonsensical interpretation of the economic crisis, and his insane trillion dollar deficits budgeted every year for the next decade.
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