Robert J. Samuelson: The Real Reagan Legacy
[Robert J. Samuelson is a weekly columnist for The Post, writing on political, economic and social issues.]
We are deluged with Ronald Reagan celebrations and retrospectives, but most are misleading. They omit Reagan's singular domestic achievement and the wellspring of his popularity: the defeat of double-digit inflation. In 1979 and 1980, inflation averaged 13 percent; by 1984, it was 4 percent - and falling. Without subdued inflation, the economy would have remained a mess and Reagan might have lost his 1984 reelection bid. He certainly wouldn't have won his 58.5 percent to 40.4 percent landslide.
You will not find this in most of today's Reagan appraisals, which tell us more about the appraisers than about Reagan. In an 11-page cover package, Time magazine doesn't mention inflation but pronounces Reagan a "transformational" leader whose political style - not his policies - should be emulated by Barack Obama. In its 11 pages on Reagan, the conservative Weekly Standard also avoids inflation and argues that Reaganism endures as the rediscovery of the "principles of the founding."
Liberals want to appropriate Reagan's present popularity, even though they ridiculed him while he was president as a dangerous moron who was cruelly shredding the social safety net. Conservatives have made Reagan into a quasi-religious figure who must be uncritically worshipped....
Read entire article at WaPo
We are deluged with Ronald Reagan celebrations and retrospectives, but most are misleading. They omit Reagan's singular domestic achievement and the wellspring of his popularity: the defeat of double-digit inflation. In 1979 and 1980, inflation averaged 13 percent; by 1984, it was 4 percent - and falling. Without subdued inflation, the economy would have remained a mess and Reagan might have lost his 1984 reelection bid. He certainly wouldn't have won his 58.5 percent to 40.4 percent landslide.
You will not find this in most of today's Reagan appraisals, which tell us more about the appraisers than about Reagan. In an 11-page cover package, Time magazine doesn't mention inflation but pronounces Reagan a "transformational" leader whose political style - not his policies - should be emulated by Barack Obama. In its 11 pages on Reagan, the conservative Weekly Standard also avoids inflation and argues that Reaganism endures as the rediscovery of the "principles of the founding."
Liberals want to appropriate Reagan's present popularity, even though they ridiculed him while he was president as a dangerous moron who was cruelly shredding the social safety net. Conservatives have made Reagan into a quasi-religious figure who must be uncritically worshipped....