Yes, Reagan was great, but it's time to move on

Chicago Sun Times ^ | Feb 11, 2004 | George Will

[PhiKapMom]

In this winter of their discontents, nostalgia for Ronald Reagan has become for many conservatives a substitute for thinking. This mental paralysis -- gratitude decaying into idolatry -- is sterile: Neither the man nor his moment will recur. Conservatives should face the fact that Reaganism cannot define conservatism.

[EternalVigilance]

There are millions of well-grounded conservatives in this country that are great candidates for future leadership. It's our job to raise up a new generation of those leaders to replace the failed leaders of the past like Newt.

[EGPWS]

Well a lot of us started as a Democrat.

It hasn't been held against you either has it? ; )

So what if many of us have been blessed with seeing the light all of our lives.

Our does that make us less "worldly"?

[EGPWS]

Our does that make us less "worldly"?

That would be "Or"....

[EGPWS]

Obama can run as the second coming of Lincoln

ROTFLMAO!!

Is Obama a connoisseur of the theater?

[JustaDumbBlonde]

"The fact that Newt, and Delay, gave up and retired gives me pause."

I have often wondered if they didn't retire ... but temporarily withdrew to fight another day. Just a thought.

[rockrr]

Bravo! Very nice...

[EGPWS]

Whatever.

My feeble mind can't take the humiliation of deep conversation anymore.

Thank God that wasn't directed to me for I wouldn't know how to answer to such a profound statement worthy of debate. ; )

[JustaDumbBlonde]

"Is Obama a connoisseur of the theater?"

How the heck would we know??? All that seems to matter is that he made a rousing speech once and might quit smoking.

[My2Cents]

Newt should have been the rightful heir to the Reagan legacy, but he shot himself in the foot with his personal life. Too bad. And the Republican Congress started going soft when Newt resigned. The Democrats don't win on their own merit, but only by tearing down Republican leadership. He would have been my first choice for president this year. He says all the right things, and is Reaganesque in his optimism and clear articulation of the values of America, but I don't know that he can overcome the baggage, nor do I think he has any illusions of winning the presidency.

[Old Professer]

Actually he is a frustrated sportswriter whose vocabulary stands before him like an overstuffed bookcase.

[EternalVigilance]

It's all some posters are worth. ;-)

[B Knotts]

Funny you mention that...I have been getting a strong impression of Nixonian Republicanism coming from certain quarters here...mostly the ones pushing Giuliani.

[hinckley buzzard]

Diggins (and presumably approved by Will) raises a straw man in Reagan's putative Emersonianism. Reagan's strength was not in "telling people what they wanted to hear," or that desire for government entitlements was "good." Any hack columnist or college professor can do that. But like Emerson, his strength was to call people to their higher nature, their self reliance, their aspirations, and inspire them to attempt to live up to it.

And, like Emerson, he was an American original. When Reagan spoke of "the people" he was speaking of Americans. Perhaps kindred spirits elsewhere, but he was not indiscriminately concerned about the human race at large.

[volunbeer]

I agree about Newt.

Right ideas by the wrong man. I would still vote for him but his negatives would be impossible to overcome.

What are your thoughts on Duncan Hunter?

[EGPWS]

How the heck would we know??? All that seems to matter is that he made a rousing speech once and might quit smoking.

Well, John Wilkes Boothe new that Lincoln was a connoisseur of theater...

I just wondered of Obama happened to show his attraction toward theater in his ramblings to equate himself with Abraham Lincoln.

Oh, he QUIT SMOKING????

Now THAT'S a leader in the making!

Regards,(....hang on while I light up....)

EG

[EternalVigilance]

Pretty good analysis on your part, I think.

[EGPWS]

It's all some posters are worth. ;-)

Whatever...

JUST KIDDING EV! : - )

[EternalVigilance]

Is Obama a connoisseur of the theater?

He better not go see "Our Kenyan Islamic Cousin."

[nicollo]

Here's a clear indication of Ronbo's increasing status in history: just recieved the gratis copies of an article I had published in Automobile Quarterly. The article was on motoring during WWII. They used most of the photos I gave them, but added a couple from their own archives, including a full-page shot of a young Ronbo with Jane Wyman standing in front of a '49 Lincoln Cosmopolitan.

It's a national mag, and with no political agenda. Still, it seems that but a few years ago it would have been controversial to publish that photo. Now, it's normal and without a thought for politics.

Thanks for the ping.

[hinckley buzzard]

"The true conservatives, the founders,'' Diggins rightly says, constructed a government full of blocking mechanisms -- separations of powers, a bicameral legislature and other checks and balances -- in order ''to check the demands of the people.''

I don't believe this is true at all. The Constitution was constructed not to thwart the will of the people but to prevent the abuse of power among those who would use government power to infringe on the liberties of the people.