Reagan Was a Democrat

A little known fact (at least to today's society) is that the bastion of conservatism, Ronald Reagan was, for a while, a Democrat.

During the 1950s he spent years being paid to give patriotic and motivational speeches to factory workers.

He wrote all of his own material, and spent considerable hours crafting each message to insure it accurately represented his thoughts.

This is when he actually defined his political beliefs and came to the conclusion that he was in the wrong party.

As a result of this period he knew what he believed in and could explain it to others.

Which is why Eleanor Clift, of Newsweek, is way off base when she publishes Five Ways that Barack Obama can be More Like Ronald Regan (http://www.newsweek.com/id/234860) in a recent online column.

She bases her idea on the fact that the O-man said during the campaign that he would like to emulate Ronald Reagan—not because he agreed with Reagan's policies, but because he changed the country in ways that endured.

The problem is, Reagan had a natural ability to touch the emotions, a trait that the O-man doesn't have.

He's not going to get a personality transplant; he's an aloof, out of touch, intellectual's intellectual, more Adlai Stevenson than Ronald Reagan.

Reagan spent eight years as Governor of California where he learned how to work with a Democratic Legislature, using clear communication and defined personal and political leadership.

Obama is still learning how to get legislation passed with a strong Democratic majority, exhibiting neither strong personal nor political leadership.

Instead, he continues to try to be all things to all people, without putting his beliefs, preferences, or leadership on the line.

Next year he will have to start learning how to pass legislation with either a reduced majority or a minority position in one or both houses.

He will be into his second term (assuming that he he re-elected) before he really has a handle on Congress, if he ever does.

Several leading Democrats have voiced their opinions that the O-man needs to be clear about his priorities, and become more directive to the Congressional leadership.

Others have said that now that healthcare has passed, he needs to move toward the center in order to mitigate losses in the Congressional mid-terms, becoming more statesman-like, and emulating Reagan populism.

The problem is, the O-man can't do it if he wanted to, because he and Reagan have lived such different lives.

Where Reagan spent time honing his beliefs and core principles, Obama has always been a Progressive.

He started his career as a Saul Alinsky community organizer.

After two years with sparse results, he decided on a change of tactics.

He never seriously questioned or explained his core beliefs and, prior to becoming president, he was always playing to a like-minded crowd.

But he seriously misjudged the legislators he needed to lead.

And his ability to lead them.

Unlike the O-man, those legislators had worked to get where they are, and have no desire to lose their cushy jobs because some neophyte is trying to promote an extremist agenda.

Which is why even though the O-man continues to blame Republican obstructionism, the real obstacle he faces is that those in his own party don't want to follow somebody who has no experience in dealing with real constituents.

The only real followers the O-man can reliably count on are the suicidal duo of Whiney Harry and Princess Nancy, both of whom are having ever more difficulty holding their unruly charges together on key programs.

In fact, on at least three key recent votes, even Whiney Harry voted "no" by what he says was a mistake.

(I'll give Whiney Harry the benefit of the doubt on that, as it had to be a mistake since he has no principles left.)

But if Whiney Harry and Princess Nancy are having this much trouble getting the agenda passed now, and are showing such low approval numbers, what happens after the mid-terms when their majority is certain to be eroded if not erased?

Typically, that's when a President's leadership becomes essential.

Eleanor Clift says that the O-man should become more Reagan like.

But what she really means is that the O-man needs to show some leadership.

Until he does, the only thing he'll have in common with the Gipper is that they were both once Democrats.


"Conversion for me was not a Damascus Road experience. I slowly moved into an intellectual acceptance of what my intuition had always known." ---- Madeleine L'Engle


“Leadership is the challenge to be something more than average.” --- Jim Rohn


PORK OF THE DAY:
$1,240,000 for two projects for Brown Tree Snakes control and interdiction in Guam by Rep. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) and Rep. Madeleine Bordallo (D-Guam). Since 1996, 14 projects worth $14.6 million have been earmarked in Guam for interdiction of Brown Tree Snakes, which are still slithering through the appropriations bill. That's an average of almost $69,000 per square mile.