By the time of the 1980 election, I had been living in a small town in Germany (Traben-Trarbach) for about 3 years. My neighbors pleaded with me to vote for Jimmuh, as they were certain that RR would start WW3.
In my best German, which wasn't too bad by that time, I tried to reassure them that the US, and the free world, needed RR as our President.
27 years later, I'd say that vote worked out pretty well for all of us.
I'd like to think that my explanations made sense to most of my neighbors. Shortly after the election, I was invited to sit at the stammtische, a table reserved for family and close friends of the proprietor, at the nearby gasthaus.
If I ever decide to run for president, I can always use that to burnish my foreign policy credentials. Additionally, I made quite a few friends in the Northern German tourist town of Lutjenburg (near Kiel) during a temporary assignment in 1979.
To this day, the summer of 1979 ranks as the best summer of my life: I was a bachelor with a few bucks in my pocket as a 1LT, the job entailed 4 days a week max, and we were the only Americans for about 200 miles (except for the units that came to train for a week, and they were confined to the post for much of the week).
Adding to the fun was the fact that I was in charge for about 75% of the time, as the CO was dealing with his family problems 400 miles away. I had excellent NCO's, and let them do their jobs. Interesting sidenote: one of the battalions that came through was commanded by Jay Garner, who would end up with 3 stars and eventually was assigned to direct the reconstruction of Iraq in 2003.
Accordingly, I'd say my experience in foreign relationships far exceeds that of three top-tier Democrat candidates.
I grew up there. I can remember him being called a Saber-rattler and boy was his visit to the graveyard near Bittburg a big deal to them (Some former SS soldiers were buried there as well). Of course he was labeled as a stupid “cowboy” and “actor.” Ronald Reagan represented everything they as a society can’t come to grips with: globalization and free trade, freedom isn’t free and needs defended, the right to bear arms, Americas leadership role in the West, the concept of free-men and personal culpability, and that a moral compass in leadership is necessary. From nukes in Germany to the bombing of Libya, Iran, and Stingers to Afghanistan; allowing a free floating exchange rate between the DM and dollar to deregulation of airlines; from the right to bear arms to the death penalty; for the German even if Ronald Reagan is personally more to credit for their own freedom and unification than any other individual German or American, they simply can’t fathom why. It is beside them why someone would vote for him, why anyone would like him, even today. In fact, collectively the Germans don’t give him credit for much and he’s more or less faded from their collective consciousness. His thinking is so far beside their paradigm they simply can’t accept him. To the socialist, those advocating pacifist/appeasement in face of an adversary may that be the Communists or today radical Islam, to those secular minded people who substitute God with government cheese programs, those who are willing to limit freedom for the “collective good,” and seeking a solution to every problem with another subsidy or government program, it is impossible to give credit to a Reagan which is essentially their antithesis.
There is a reason why in Poland and Hungary busts and statues of Reagan are erected in parks and public squares:
http://www.budapestweek.com/index2.html
http://gophub.com/story.php?title=Poland_Honors_Reagans_Defeat_of_Communism
There is a reason why in Germany you won’t hear anything about him anymore.