Reagan's legacy to me.

[Bonhomme Richard]

When I asked myself the question of Reagan's legacy the following is my take.

Reagan was the first, in my life time, of what I call the puppet president. This I believe was the first attempt of the ultra conservatives to take control of public policy. A leader that looked good to the public, said what the citizens wanted to hear and played to the average citizens worse instinct and was also totally disengaged from running of the government. I believe Reagan was basically an OK guy who didn't have a clue what others (bush 1, cheney,etc.) were doing behind the scenes. I don't think he cared too much because he was playing a role. The only thing that mattered to him was the way the movie goer( American public) responded to his character.This in no way exonerates Reagan for responsibility for the acts perpetrated in our name during that period.
I think it was such a success to the neocons that they decided to take it to the next level with running shrub.. I think they learned with Reagan that they needed to hide a lot of what they were doing behind the scenes (he really cared about the public (fans) perception of him) and it slowed their agenda. What they needed was someone not only disengaged but also someone that didn't give a dam about anyone and really didn't care what they did as long as he could pretend to be president and put his bullying nature to work.

At the end of it all I blame Reagan for opening the door to the problems this country faces today. I don't think we would have ended up with shrub without a Reagan first.

[jjmalonejr]

1. Neither GWB nor Reagan are "puppet" Presidents

I'm so sick of hearing that.

Both were HEAVILY influenced, even manipulated, by their advisors because of lack of experience and intellectual curiosity.

But GWB is Reagan taken to the extreme. I don't think Reagan was anywhere near as much of an empty suit as GWB.

Make no mistake, they were both in charge in the White House. They made the decisions. In GWB's case, that's what's REALLY scary.

[Bonhomme Richard]

3. I'm whooped today and I think that maybe I wasn't clear

in my thought. Yes, I firmly believe that they made the final decisions but were so disengaged that they did not have the intellectual curiousity to seek various opinions but rather, were lazy and took what they were told as gospel. The difference is I think Reagan honestly believed what he was told and that shrub, who has no moral character, really didn't care. That attitude allowed them to take their ideology a whole step further.

[jjmalonejr]

2. You make some good points, though...

...despite what I said in my previous post.