March 29, 2006

Smile, Republicans! Ronald Reagan Is Watching You

The realist in me – and there’s one in there somewhere – realizes you can’t take Ronald Reagan and plop him down at any historical moment of your choosing. But it would be neat if you could – especially now.

And if Reagan could join us in our moment in history, he would certainly bring two badly needed things to the face of his beloved Republican Party – a steely confidence in the eyes, and a wide smile.

If someone had told Reagan in 1988 that the first five years of the 21^st Century would see almost uninterrupted Republican control of both the White House and Congress, one can only imagine the smile on his face and the thoughts that would have gone through his optimistic mind:

He would have smiled confidently at the thought of government’s reduced role in people’s lives. He would have smiled hopefully at the thought of federal spending finally starting to get under control. And he would have smiled excitedly at the thought of America, no longer fearful of Soviet aggression, happily promoting its ideals across the globe. (He would never have dreamed that any of the above would not take place. He was an optimist.)

Most importantly, though, he would have smiled. Reagan understood a few essential things about America and Americans – not least of which is the fact that Americans have always thought big, always believed the impossible and more often than not defied the odds to be proven right to dream such dreams. And he understood intuitively that America has always been on the right side of history, which helped inform his conviction to go forth with the policies that helped make the time of his life what he accurately called the American Century.

But if anything would surprise Reagan about the present day, it would be neither the state of the economy (excellent) nor the nature of our foreign policy (vigorous). It would be the face of his own party, particularly in Congress.

Where are the Young Turks of the House who planned and plotted in the ‘80s to rise to power and make Reagan’s ideals the lynchpin of Republican thinking for generations to come?

Newt Gingrich? Run out by controversy after successfully engineering the takeover of the House. Trent Lott? On to the Senate and its leadership, only to be derailed by a dumb comment in an otherwise unimportant speech. John McCain? A little too well-liked by the mainstream media, and a little too opportunistic for his or other Republicans’ good. Vin Weber? Dick Armey? Jack Kemp? Back in the private sector, where Reagan knew the real work of America is done.

Instead, we find ourselves with the mechanical meanderings of Bill Frist in the Senate – saying the right things about tax cuts and so forth, but coming off sounding more like an answering machine than an inspiration. And in the House? Speaker Dennis Hastert and erstwhile Majority Leader Tom DeLay may hold down the fort and keep the troops in line, but visionaries they are not.

Old Senate warhorses like Orrin Hatch still have the policies right, but who hangs on their every word? Up-and-coming rebels in the House like John Boehner, the new majority leader, want to stand up for conservative principles – but the very fact that this requires a fight speaks volumes.

After 11 years in control of the House – during most of which they also had the Senate – Republicans have their share of noteworthy victories, but few direction-changing ones. And few could argue that the fundamental nature of America has changed. We are still debating the difference between slow growth in entitlements and fast growth. We are still talking about deficits more than we talk about growth and wealth creation. And we are still surly – about our role overseas, about prospects for the future and about the polls.

There aren’t many Republicans around who look or sound like Reagan. Not many who understand the problems but focus on the possibilities. Not many who confidently remind Americans of what they are capable of, and of why they should keep their defenses up but not fear the future. Not many who smile in the face of an unyielding assault and tell you with the look in their eyes that there was never any reason to worry, because the outcome was never in doubt.

Wait. There is one. He has the smile, the attitude and the optimism – but not the approval rating. That is deemed pretty important – in fact, all-important – by the 2006 Republican who is trying to decide whether to embrace or flee from George W. Bush in an election year, even though distancing oneself from an incumbent president of your own party is almost always a losing strategy.

What would Reagan say to today’s Republicans? It would probably be something about whether this is any way to act after six years of having an unprecedented opportunity to permanently shift the direction of America. But it would certainly be said with a pleasant smile, and a look in the eyes that let the listener know there was no doubt as to what the truth is, and no room for debate.

Above all else, Reagan was different from most of today’s Republicans in that he knew how to act like a winner.

This is Column # DC26. Request permission to publish here.