#296...exactly correct.
Nice try. I remember the millions marching in Germany against upgrading NATO defenses and missile deployment, when the European public sentiment appeared more vocal and averse to the US than it does now. Yet Reagan still led. I remember having to avoid areas that were American when I was over there after the Berlin disco bombing and our strikes on Tripoli. I remember my roomate having to run out of a Paris subway station after an evacuation announcement and subsequent bombing. I remember the pounding he took from the media, some of which would not be responded to much. But on important matters he would challenge them or go over their heads to talk directly to the public whenever it was necessary, and to the extent necessary. Volume and quantity wasn't the issue, but effectivenss.
Yeah, withdrawing from Beirut may have been the biggest mistake of his presidency, but it also was a decision made in a different context. There were no WMD programs threatening bringing attacks to our shores, a more divided, less armed, and somewhat counterbalanced M.E., with Iran not having near the ability to wage a proxy war on the scale that it can now with Hezb and other groups.