I kept hearing about a huge front page hatchet job on Ronald Reagan by R.W. Apple Jr. of the NY Times today, so I finally got around to reading it. Although it may be a bit of political grandstanding to call it a disrepectful thing to publish on a National Day of Mourning and his church funeral, it is certainly not neutral.

Legacy of Reagan's Presidency Now Begins the Test of Time

Lets look at the positive (?) things Mr. Apple has to say about the 8 years of the Reagan Presidency:

- He was respected and beloved (only perhaps, and only by some)
- He was popular (although not as popular as he could have been and having been popular wouldn't have meant he was a good President anyway)
- He was a great communicator
- He had an intuitive understanding of the average American
- He built and sustained friendships across partisan lines
- He was a good leader in times of national mourning
(The last four points are negated by the only quote in the article with an independent opinion of the Reagan presidency saying that "...he was not a great president. He was master at projecting a mood; he could certainly rally the country. He would have made a great king, a great constitutional monarch, but we do not have that form of government."

- He brought the long struggle with the Soviet Union to a conclusion in part by beefing up the military (while joining with Gorbachev)

- He was trustworthy and had immense charisma

- He was pragmatic (i.e. he admitted his own mistakes)

- He lifted the Carter era malaise (with a veil that kept our problems hidden)

In summary, he did have many positive personal traits, but not everyone thought so and they weren't what is needed to be a great president anyway. The only good that is mentioned about his policies (sort of) is that he assisted Mr. Gorbachev in destroying the Soviet Union, which would have happened anyway.

Now the negative:

- Iran-Contra affair is mentioned
- He was often ignorant of or impatient with policy minutiae (unlike most)
- Iran-Contra mentioned again
- believed words counted for far more in politics than mere deeds (I'll take that as negative)
- Spent WWII making training films (clearly a negative here re: his status among Presidents)
- Received undeserved credit for bringing about the end of communism
- His tax cuts failed to produce as much revenue as he expected
- He had a vision, but fell well short of producing consensus behind it
- Much of the country deeply resented and still resent his insistence that government is the problem, not the solution.
- The physically challenged resented him
- The economically challenged resented him
- The "otherwise" challenged resented him
- His celebrated optimism obscured major problems
- African-Americans were particularly aggrieved (for lack of commitment to civil rights and human rights)
- Trade unionists were also particularly aggrieved
- "Many" Jews were also particularly aggrieved and resentful (for Bitburg as well)
- He has no status overseas
- His brand of radical conservatism has achieved little success elsewhere.

And this they saved for the day he was buried - they couldn't even wait for the "Week in Review" section on Sunday.