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 Recent commentary from National Journal: Media: Missing a Beat (June 15, 2004) Political reporters always had a hard time getting a handle on Ronald Reagan's charisma. By William Powers. Legal Affairs: The Torture Memos: Putting the President Above the Law (June 15, 2004) Little did the Framers suspect that their Constitution would be twisted by a president to claim powers more appropriate to Roman emperors, Russian czars, King George III. By Stuart Taylor Jr. Wealth of Nations: Reagan Defeated Communism. Washington Was More of a Challenge. (June 15, 2004) Ronald Reagan sped the birth of a new world order, but he failed to change what he wanted to change the most: the scale and reach of the federal government. By Clive Crook. Media: It Pays to Be Wrong (June 8, 2004) The news business only pretends to be wary of byline hounds known to sometimes play it fast and loose. By William Powers. Political Pulse: Super-Charged Electorate (June 8, 2004) Back in 2000, voters didn't get energized until after the election. This year, the opposite is true. By William Schneider. Social Studies: In Iraq, Don't Cut And Run. Cut and Don't Run. (June 8, 2004) The biggest mistake America could make in Iraq would be not to try for democracy there. The second-biggest mistake might be to try too hard. By Jonathan Rauch. More from National Journal. |
Political Pulse 
Leaving His Mark
Ronald Reagan's legacy belongs to the whole country, not just one political party. By William Schneider. by William Schneider .... In the political walk of fame, Ronald Reagan left a huge footprint. Despite Bill Clinton's two terms in the White House and two presidents named George Bush, the Reagan agenda still rules the country. Reagan followed four failed presidents: Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, and Jimmy Carter. People were beginning to wonder, "Is America still governable?" President Reagan answered that question loud and clear. "Don't let anyone tell you that America's best days are behind her—that the American spirit has been vanquished," he declared in the dark days of 1982, as the nation's unemployment rate approached 10 percent. "We've seen it triumph too often in our lives to stop believing in it now." Reagan was the inspiration for a whole generation of leaders. George H.W. Bush, George W. Bush, John McCain—Reaganites all. Rudy Giuliani and Colin Powell made their names in the Reagan administration. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, observed in 2002, "I can say, a lot of members who are serving in both the House and the Senate ... owe their positions to Ronald Reagan's legacy." For Republicans, 1980 was Year One. And they still follow the Reagan gospel—on taxes, for instance. Reagan said in 1985, "I have only one thing to say to the tax increasers: 'Go ahead, make my day!' " The word on taxes was handed down from father (George H.W. Bush, 1988: "Read my lips—no new taxes") to son (George W. Bush, 2001: "Not over my dead body will they raise your taxes"). Even Democrats were forced to fall into line (Bill Clinton, 1996: "The era of big government is over"). Reagan brought to power a new coalition composed of groups with one thing in common: They each had a grievance with the federal government. The coalition included middle-class suburban voters attracted by the promise of low taxes. It included business interests attracted by the promise of deregulation. It included religious conservatives attracted by the promise to curb activist federal judges. Reagan brought religious voters into the GOP. He told a prayer breakfast at the 1984 Republican National Convention, "The truth is, politics and morality are inseparable. And as morality's foundation is religion, religion and politics are necessarily related." Religion is now part of the political language for Republicans. "I believe in grace because I have seen it, in peace because I have felt it, in forgiveness because I have needed it," George W. Bush told his party in 2000 when he accepted the GOP presidential nomination. Reagan abhorred racism. But his anti-government philosophy attracted white voters, South and North, who resented a federal government that protected and advanced minority interests. "Those whom government intended to help discovered a cycle of dependency that could not be broken," Reagan said in 1984. It took a Democratic president, Clinton, to pass a welfare reform law designed to break that cycle. Reagan was not just a legend to the country. He was also a hero to a political movement. "Reagan is really the icon of the conservative movement," historian Robert Dallek said last year. "Without him ... conservatives would feel they've sort of lost their leader. They've lost their heroic figure." Reagan's death has a political impact that John F. Kennedy's in 1963 did not. Kennedy is "not important to any movement in particular," Dallek said. "He's important to the country." Reagan rallied conservatives. In 1988, he rallied them for the elder Bush. "George, just one personal request," Reagan said when his vice president was nominated to succeed him. "Win one for the Gipper." Conservatives were the "friends" that Reagan addressed at the conclusion of his 1989 farewell address when he said, "My friends, we did it. We weren't just marking time. We made a difference." Fifteen years later, Reagan still rallies conservatives. Last fall, CBS scheduled a miniseries, The Reagans, that included fictionalized and unflattering portrayals of the former president and first lady. Conservative activist Michael Paranzino reacted by starting a Web site, boycottCBS.com. "We're taking our eyeballs elsewhere, and we're taking our wallets and our pocketbooks elsewhere," Paranzino said. It worked. CBS moved the miniseries to a cable network when conservatives rallied to defend their ailing hero. When the current president needs to rally conservatives behind his campaign, there is no more potent symbol than Reagan. Bush told Republican governors this year, "Ronald Reagan's leadership revived America's economy, renewed America's strength, and lifted America's confidence. That spirit of optimism and faith in fundamental American values is the spirit we will carry to victory in November of 2004." Reagan's death has put the presidential campaign on hold. Conservatives may feel a call to arms—to win one more for the Gipper. But things like that can backfire. In 2002, Democratic Sen. Paul Wellstone of Minnesota, a hero to the Left, died in a plane crash 11 days before the election. Many voters were put off when Wellstone's supporters turned his memorial service into what looked like a political rally. "We are begging for you to help us win this Senate election for Paul Wellstone," one speaker said. In the end, Democrats lost the seat. Reagan's legacy belongs to the whole country. It could be a serious mistake to try to appropriate that legacy for political purposes.
What do you think? Discuss this article in the Politics & Society conference of Post & Riposte. More from National Journal. More on politics and society in Atlantic Unbound and The Atlantic Monthly. William Schneider is the Cable News Network's senior political analyst. He is also a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, D.C., and a contributing editor for the Los Angeles Times, National Journal, and The Atlantic Monthly. His column appears every week in National Journal, a weekly magazine covering politics and government published in Washington, D.C. For information on National Journal Group publications, see NationalJournal.com. Copyright © 2004 by The Atlantic Monthly Group. All rights reserved. |
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