Reply #24: Nicely thought out piece [View All]

[Tactical Progressive]

I agree all around. It is important to separate, in politics, the underlying ethos with the practice.

You can credit a Republican like Reagan with giving a good speech, and respect that ability, just as you can with a Bill Clinton. And both themes could be positive. Reagan could appeal to our can-do attitude in working hard and pulling ourselves up, as could Clinton. But when you realize that Reagan's pulling ourselves up means pull yourself up or starve in the street, then the 'good speech' is in actuality an appeal to a baser notion of what we are.

It's notable that Obama is so taken by Reagan, even after twenty-five years of historical context and all we know of where that appeal rested with many people. And to me at least, it reinforces my instinct that Obama is about little more than facade; charm and talk. No wonder he he sees Reagan in a positive light. He looks at the facade, not the underlying notions. Ron charmed America, down the wrong path. Obama wants so obviously to be that charmer. He tries to sound like MLK and he still reveres Reagan, all the while constantly dumping on Democrats and the Democratic party. He's shown more appreciation for Reagan's surface attributes than he has what our party stands for.