Jacob Heilbrunn: Ronald Reagan, the anti-Reaganite
[Jacob Heilbrunn, a senior editor at the National Interest, is the author of "They Knew They Were Right: The Rise of the Neocons."]
A Ronald Reagan boomlet is sweeping the nation, thanks in no small part to an army of conservative admirers who have never missed a chance to buff his image — and then use it for their own ends. Nothing looms larger for Reagan worshippers than the centennial of his birthday on Feb. 6.
Fittingly, Californians were first off the mark to celebrate their local hero: On Jan. 1, the Reagan Presidential Foundation and Jelly Belly, the jelly bean company that filled candy dishes at the Reagan White House, sponsored the first-ever Rose Parade float memorializing a president. It was 26 feet high and 55 feet long and featured 11 poppy-seed pictures highlighting the Great Communicator's life, not to mention 65,000 red roses.
A week later, the National Archives unveiled a yearlong Reagan exhibit, including a bronze replica of the Kremlin given to him by Mikhail Gorbachev. Indiana is sponsoring an essay contest for schoolchildren on Reagan's most important contribution to American history. His admirers in Nevada are trying to name a state peak Mt. Reagan this year, adding to the long list of naming opportunities pursued by the Ronald Reagan Legacy Project, which was established in 1997, seven years before his death.
In Illinois, Reagan's birthplace, the state GOP is holding a fundraiser on Feb. 5 that presidential hopefuls Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum and John R. Bolton have promised to attend (Sarah Palin and John Thune are on the invite list). Meanwhile, Ron Reagan has just released a book exploring his dad's impact: "My Father at 100."
In this tsunami of adoration, Reagan is touted as the model of Republican, and even "tea party," virtue. He's the anti-Bush for those teed off at George W., who allegedly corrupted the GOP by engaging in enormous deficit spending and increasing the size of government, with programs like the prescription drug benefit and No Child Left Behind. What's more, invoking Reagan's name has become conservative shorthand for denouncing President Obama, as well as a rhetorical gambit in the effort to revive his potent coalition of economic, social and national security conservatives.
He is a constant point of GOP reference. In her new book, Palin announces that America's leaders must return to the idea of America "as the shining city on a hill that Ronald Reagan believed it is." (She uses his name more than 30 times in the text.) Sen. Jim DeMint said in December that Palin had "done more for the Republican Party than anyone since Ronald Reagan." Gingrich piously bows to Reagan's economic prowess in his latest tract: "Just as Reagan ushered in a 25-year economic boom, with the right policies we could launch a new boom lasting till 2035."
With Republicans lining up to claim his mantle, the GOP credo for 2012 seems to be WWRD — what would Reagan do?..
Read entire article at LA Times
A Ronald Reagan boomlet is sweeping the nation, thanks in no small part to an army of conservative admirers who have never missed a chance to buff his image — and then use it for their own ends. Nothing looms larger for Reagan worshippers than the centennial of his birthday on Feb. 6.
Fittingly, Californians were first off the mark to celebrate their local hero: On Jan. 1, the Reagan Presidential Foundation and Jelly Belly, the jelly bean company that filled candy dishes at the Reagan White House, sponsored the first-ever Rose Parade float memorializing a president. It was 26 feet high and 55 feet long and featured 11 poppy-seed pictures highlighting the Great Communicator's life, not to mention 65,000 red roses.
A week later, the National Archives unveiled a yearlong Reagan exhibit, including a bronze replica of the Kremlin given to him by Mikhail Gorbachev. Indiana is sponsoring an essay contest for schoolchildren on Reagan's most important contribution to American history. His admirers in Nevada are trying to name a state peak Mt. Reagan this year, adding to the long list of naming opportunities pursued by the Ronald Reagan Legacy Project, which was established in 1997, seven years before his death.
In Illinois, Reagan's birthplace, the state GOP is holding a fundraiser on Feb. 5 that presidential hopefuls Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum and John R. Bolton have promised to attend (Sarah Palin and John Thune are on the invite list). Meanwhile, Ron Reagan has just released a book exploring his dad's impact: "My Father at 100."
In this tsunami of adoration, Reagan is touted as the model of Republican, and even "tea party," virtue. He's the anti-Bush for those teed off at George W., who allegedly corrupted the GOP by engaging in enormous deficit spending and increasing the size of government, with programs like the prescription drug benefit and No Child Left Behind. What's more, invoking Reagan's name has become conservative shorthand for denouncing President Obama, as well as a rhetorical gambit in the effort to revive his potent coalition of economic, social and national security conservatives.
He is a constant point of GOP reference. In her new book, Palin announces that America's leaders must return to the idea of America "as the shining city on a hill that Ronald Reagan believed it is." (She uses his name more than 30 times in the text.) Sen. Jim DeMint said in December that Palin had "done more for the Republican Party than anyone since Ronald Reagan." Gingrich piously bows to Reagan's economic prowess in his latest tract: "Just as Reagan ushered in a 25-year economic boom, with the right policies we could launch a new boom lasting till 2035."
With Republicans lining up to claim his mantle, the GOP credo for 2012 seems to be WWRD — what would Reagan do?..