Le Sabot Post-Moderne: Happy Birthday, Mr. President!

février 06, 2005

Happy Birthday, Mr. President!

Just a quick moment to remember Ronald Reagan, who would be 94 today. As a president he was flawed but great -- even when he made mistakes they were done on a grand scale. Aside from my father, no other man played such a role in shaping how I viewed life and the world. More than his politics, it's his character that has always drawn my admiration. He was an example of conviction, clarity of purpose, humor and patriotism. There was little petty or vain about him. Gracious to his political enemies, he knew how to fight without hating -- something the current crop of politicos could learn from.

Tulip Girl also posted some thoughts on Reagan today.

Posted by Discoshaman at février 6, 2005 11:27 PM | TrackBack

I was thinking about him today as I reviewed the FY 2006 federal budget summaries (yeah, I do that sort of thing. I know it's pretty weird).

Reagan's administration struggled terribly with its budgets. Reagan himself was content to leave the details to other people -- he bored easily -- and his budgets often made projections based on things he wanted that Congress would not accept. There was never anything in his time like what we have now.

I'm not talking about the merits of tax cuts, Iraq or Social Security reform, but about the process. You don't campaign for policies and then pretend you can't even guess at what they are going to cost, so you won't have to account for it in your budget. There were things about Reagan that drove me crazy -- I thought he was way too accepting of unnecessary government programs -- but we have slid a long way since he was in the White House. Plus, I just miss him not being in the White House.

Posted by: Zathras at février 9, 2005 01:01 AM