Just finished reading The Acting President
by Bob Schieffer and Gary Paul Gates, about the Reagan presidency, this weekend. What astounded me in retrospect were two things: one, how little I knew about Reagan as a president, overall, and two, how much Reagan’s actions are akin to those of our current president (let the countdown continue…) George Bush.
Perhaps Reagan’s terms personified the new play-book pages for Republicans, henceforth. With Bush they just perfected it. Or, you know, what we here in reality like to call: made it worse. Reagan was the ultimate figurehead. Surrounded by the agenda-heavy Jim Baker (who would go on to serve George Bush I), Don Regan, Casper Weinberger, Poindexter and a cast largely snagged from the Nixon years, he was isolated, insulated and, essentially, clueless.
They were just better at hiding him, is all. He was a better actor, but no less the narcissist than Bush in many ways. Where Bush differs is with a sadistic streak largely absent in Reagan, who was, by all accounts, a truly genial and kind man. Just utterly clueless.
Take, for instance, Reagan’s anti-missile talks with Gorbachev in Reykjavik, Iceland. The two men sat down and, by the time the conversation ended, Reagan had promised to deplete the entire US stock of missiles, not just the long-range type. This would have left Britain as one of the world’s nuclear superpowers, if not the world’s nuclear superpower. Seems Ronnie got up during the talk, walked over to confer via telephone with his military advisers, and misunderstood the difference between anti-ballistic weapons and traditional missiles. Whoops.
To say he was a man for whom details proved elusive is, well, so sweeping a statement he would actually appreciate it.
Then there was the little snafu with Reagan agreeing to then-Chancellor Helmut Kohl’s request he visit a cemetery to commemorate World War II. Problem was, it was a Nazi cemetery where high-ranking SS were laid to rest and await their inevitable descent. As one could imagine, this triggered a bit of alarm and distress in all Americans, but particularly with the Jews. It resulted in the unprecedented public dressing-down of a president on television, Provided by Elie Weisel as he received a Congressional medal just a few days prior to the slated Reagan Germany visit:
“. . . I am convinced, as you have told us earlier when we spoke, that you were not aware of the presence of SS graves in the Bitburg cemetery. Of course you didn’t know. But now we all are aware. May I, Mr. President, if it’s possible at all, implore you to do something else, to find a way, to find another way, another site? That place, Mr. President, is not your place. Your place is with the victims of the SS.” – April 19, 1985
Reagan refused to cancel the trip. Instead, he tacked-on a visit to Bergen-Belsen to, one assumes, even his score.
At least he did not stretch the truth as he did on other occasions. Frequently, Reagan told anecdotes about World War II, and his own trauma at seeing the concentration camps firsthand. Trouble is, Reagan never left the US during World War II. Nearsightedness kept him out of combat. Instead, he “witnessed” the horrors of Auschwitz from a back-lot in Burbank where he filmed Army videos during his time in service.
Other times, he entertained company by telling stories about heroism and other past events that. . .yes, came from movie scripts, not real life. Perhaps it was his Alzheimers kicking-in, but more likely it was Reagan’s utter disregard for detail. He often quoted Winston Churchill and, befuddled, journalists contacted the Library of Congress, seeking confirmation of the specific quotes. They house the largest number of Churchill quotes, an exhaustive list. Many times these quotes just didn’t exist.
See? Bush…only better.
Back when the Iran Contra scandal hit, I was just at the tail end of high school. It seemed ludicrous to me that Reagan would say he did not know anything about the arms for hostages deal or the agreement to help the Contras fight the Sandinistas. But now, well, I think maybe he really didn’t. Even though he signed certain documents that were essentially waivers for the program. Even though he sat in on several meetings (those same meetings later not remembered by George Bush Sr., either).
It’s easy to think that he didn’t know. That doesn’t excuse him. Perhaps it villifies him further: he simply didn’t care enough to know.
He was certainly an improvement over Bush II, though, in that he not only surrounded himself with mostly competent people, but he actually deferred to their expertise on matters beyond his ability.
Nevertheless, he was the first obvious Republican puppet. If they continue down this path and, God forbid, McCain manages to not only stay alive until the election but actually gets into office, we’ll be able to identify the strings. They’ll be visible. McCain has all the forgetfulness of Reagan, minus the warmth, and all the warmongering sociopath tendencies of The Shrub (minus the semi-amusing humor).
God help us all.
