Ronald Reagan Jr., the GOP, and the Reagan Legacy

Ronald Reagan the younger has always impressed me as an intelligent man who chose a different life for himself than that of his famous father, someone who wrestled with some tough questions to find what was right for him rather than simply riding the old man's coattails.

But although the younger Reagan is certainly not the partisan GOP player his father was, it's also very clear that he respects his father deeply.

So I listened when the younger Reagan spoke at his father's service last Friday and again this week when he said President Bush should run on his own record and ambitions and not that of the Reagan the elder.

Now, if Bush and former Pres. Reagan really were that similar - and they are not - I don't think I would have such an issue with the GOP's decision to link the two almost genetically. The great differences between the two men are far larger and more distinct than their likenesses. Just to name a few: Reagan was a pretty traditional conservative while Bush employs a plan of very radical conservativism (big government growth and intrusion COUPLED with massive tax cuts for the richest); Reagan's military involvement was mostly off the books; and Reagan seemed to bridge as many gaps as he busted while Bush draws line after line in the sand and defies anyone to cross it.

While I did not like the US direction (for the most part) under Reagan, I don't think he was nearly as destructive as just the first four years under Bush 43. The elder Reagan was quite the showboater and (like Bush 43) less a cowboy that the media image liked to portray him, but he also exercised far more diplomacy than the current president. Hell, almost anyone else on the planet (save perhaps for Ariel Sharon, Howard Stern, and Courtney Love) exercises more diplomacy than Shrub.

Of course, what is going to be more interesting is whether Nancy Reagan goes along with the Bush/GOP Reagan legacy election vision. If she does, I have no doubt that Bush will ride it right up to voting day.

But if she doesn't (and the president has already indicated he won't reverse himself on the stem cell issue that seems to mean so much to Mrs. Reagan), there are some in the GOP who will likely balk at the idea of cramming the comparisons down the throat of a gracious, loyal widow. However, I doubt very much that Mrs. Reagan would make a public issue out of any displeasure she might feel over the "Bush as spiritual son of Reagan" (not the least of which is that I don't think Mrs. Reagan would want to claim Georgie as her son); she would more likely address the issue through private channels, well off our radar.