6-7-2004
The Great Communicator

Been catching a lot of flak from my old buddies -- "You've got to go back to blogging!" -- and my routine answer is short and to the point.

"I live within walking distance of the beach."

So in the middle of a manic Web site construction schedule, in the midst of a good life with the First Dumpling, in the shade of bay pines and saltwater breezes, there's one thing I can't let pass.

The passing of The Great Communicator.

***

Ronald Reagan delivered his last presidential foreign policy speech at the University of Virginia. I saw it live as a reporter for UPI.

Now here's the good part.

All the statewide and local reporters had staked out their spots early, which was stupid, of course, because when the traveling big-time reporters arrived, we got bumped back.

When I settled into my new seat, I realized immediately what a stroke of luck had just come my way. In my line of site was both the podium and a TV monitor. I could watch him work the room and the camera at the same time.

Which he did in completely stunning fashion.

A quick Google search reveals one story on the speech, but, nothing personal to the authors, it neither captures nor conveys what happened that day.

Perhaps you've heard the phrase "speaking with the clarity of a condemned man." Maybe it was the time -- December 1988, a few weeks away from his leaving office. Maybe it was the fact that Reagan was famous for his plainspoken style. Whatever it was can be summed up succinctly -- Ronald Reagan took the stage at Thomas Jefferson's University to say I was right, they were wrong, and we won.

Which, as history would have it, is essentially what happened.

***

Despite my libertarian, eco-lover leanings, I used to surprise my friends in the '80s by saying there would be no better job than being a speech writer for Ronald Reagan. Take everything old-school Mom-and-apple-pie and come out in favor of it. Nothing could be more simple. I also used to tell them that if you gave me a trillion dollars to give away, I'd be known as a good communicator, too.

Meaning no disrespect to the dead, I concede Mr. Reagan's claims to greatness and his well-deserved affection as the patron saint of conservative politics.

I do, however, wish to offer two caveats on current conventional wisdom -- the idea that, according to the pundits today, history will show two great American presidents of the 20th Century, Ronald Reagan and FDR.

First, it's worth remembering that when Harry Truman left office, he was widely considered an idiot (especially by my father, who never forgave Truman for firing Gen. Douglas MacArthur) and now historians say Give Em Hell Harry did a helluva job.

Secondly, if you believe, as I do, that in 10 to 20 years the American economy, and by extension, the American government, will face something just short of total collapse because of crushing, unpayable deficits, historians are going to look for someone to blame. And they will blame the man it's named after, Reaganomics.

So call his two terms the Reagan Revolution. Call the eight-year run a helluva party. But just please remember that Mr. Reagan put that party on a credit card, and we still haven't paid the bill.

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