Much is being made about Barack Obama's comments on Ronald Reagan. I believe that President Clinton was an effective President on some things, even though I do not support his Don’t Ask Don’t Tell or DOMA policies or his sleazy behavior in the White House for which he was impeached by Congress and for which he lost his license to practice law.
We are dealing with two presidential legacies on process: A Reagan Revolution that changed America and moved this country dramatically to the right, and the Clinton legacy that somewhat crippled our party and continue to energize the evangelicals and others in a continuing divisive battle (even among friends) that has drained so many well meaning people.
The fact that that some Democrats are inflamed that one of their presidential candidates may have ANYTHING remotely positive to say about Ronald Reagan’s style just proves the validity of what Barack Obama said about Reagan’s influence on American politics. What Senator Obama speaks to is the process by which Ronald Reagan was (1) able to reshape the American political landscape and (2) the means by which he did it.
Barack is not offering an affirmation of either the means or the ends, nor he is praising them, he is merely stating cold, hard political fact. That Reagan was transformative is obvious, and don’t take it from Barack Obama, just listen to the many things rivals Edwards and Clinton have stated about the Reagan legacy in recent days (or even on Clinton’s website). Reagan made major changes in all sectors of government, influencing all aspects of American life, and as Democrats, we can wholeheartedly agree that many of them were detrimental, but we are foolish to ignore that they happened or how happened.
We are still dealing (and suffering) because of them. And how was Reagan able to make these major changes? What many people have taken issue with Barack’s comments about is Barack’s contention that America was ready and wanted these changes. Well, when a President wins 49 of 50 states, that pretty much says that whether wrong or not, the country wanted what he was selling and bought into it more than any other President since Johnson won 44 of 50 states in the wake of JFK’s assassination in 1964. In fact, not only did Reagan’s ideas thoroughly shape the 1980s both in America and around the world, but they fundamentally shaped Democrats and the Democratic Party. Everything from the Democratic Leadership Council to the ‘Third Way’ centrism that brought ‘the new left’ to power in Britain, Canada, and Germany in the 1990s, stemmed from the left’s response to the breadth of Reagan’s power in changing both the country and its politics.
And the fact that HIV and AIDS (and other things) were left to fester during those eight years of Ronald Reagan and yet the Republicans still convinced the American People on their goodness for America, show just how important it is to understand our political climate.
I’ve been involved in HIV and AIDS issues since my college days in ‘80s and remember bringing Michael Callen to the university to speak about surviving AIDS. I wish back then and since that we had a candidate who understood our issues and had the same effective ability to inspire and mobilize the American People that Ronald Reagan did. Except that I wanted such inspiration to take us in a difference direction which is clearly what Barack Obama wants - and is singularly able - to do.
Maxim Thorne, Esq. maxim@maximthorne.com
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