oracle
04-02-2001, 10:14 AM
Dionneīs disdain for Reagan (http://www.washtimes.com/op-ed/20010402-660476.htm)
Alvin Felzenberg
Columnist E.J. Dionne has joined the chorus of those who think there are too many buildings and public works being named in honor of Ronald Reagan. He recently proclaimed that the nation should celebrate only those presidents whose achievements "transcend ideology." He wonders, though, why Americans so unappreciate presidents like (hyper-ideologue) Lyndon Johnson. (The answer is simple. Mr. Reaganīs ideas worked. Johnsonīs didnīt.)
In a strange sort of way, Mr. Reagan meets even the criteria Mr. Dionne has set for a suitable memorial on the National mall. In foreign policy, Mr. Reagan pursued Cold War policies every American president from Harry Truman to the first George Bush enunciated. His greatness, though, lay in his ability to see that the United States could win a struggle the others merely wished to manage and bring down an "evil empire" they only wanted to contain.
On the domestic side, Mr. Dionne insists "there is no consensus on the meaning of the Reagan years." Bill Clinton, who declared the "era of big government" over, certainly thought there was. So too did the American people, who twice gave Mr. Reagan the go ahead to enact his agenda in record landslides.
In February, Gallup released a poll showing that Mr. Reaganīs countrymen rate him the "greatest" American president. While the Gipper would be the first to yield that place of honor to Washington or Lincoln, the results do bespeak "consensus."
Given Mr. Dionneīs disdain for memorializing presidents who aroused controversy and whose records of performance and achievement remain open to debate, one wonders what he thinks of that orgy of political correctness on the National Mall that goes by the name of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Memorial. One would hardly know from George Segalīs powerful sculptures that World War II, rather than Rooseveltīs domestic policies, brought an end to the Great Depression. Its severity increased rather than decreased during the second New Deal. (Ask the Waltons.)
...
Click here to read the complete article (http://www.washtimes.com/op-ed/20010402-660476.htm)
Alvin Felzenberg
Columnist E.J. Dionne has joined the chorus of those who think there are too many buildings and public works being named in honor of Ronald Reagan. He recently proclaimed that the nation should celebrate only those presidents whose achievements "transcend ideology." He wonders, though, why Americans so unappreciate presidents like (hyper-ideologue) Lyndon Johnson. (The answer is simple. Mr. Reaganīs ideas worked. Johnsonīs didnīt.)
In a strange sort of way, Mr. Reagan meets even the criteria Mr. Dionne has set for a suitable memorial on the National mall. In foreign policy, Mr. Reagan pursued Cold War policies every American president from Harry Truman to the first George Bush enunciated. His greatness, though, lay in his ability to see that the United States could win a struggle the others merely wished to manage and bring down an "evil empire" they only wanted to contain.
On the domestic side, Mr. Dionne insists "there is no consensus on the meaning of the Reagan years." Bill Clinton, who declared the "era of big government" over, certainly thought there was. So too did the American people, who twice gave Mr. Reagan the go ahead to enact his agenda in record landslides.
In February, Gallup released a poll showing that Mr. Reaganīs countrymen rate him the "greatest" American president. While the Gipper would be the first to yield that place of honor to Washington or Lincoln, the results do bespeak "consensus."
Given Mr. Dionneīs disdain for memorializing presidents who aroused controversy and whose records of performance and achievement remain open to debate, one wonders what he thinks of that orgy of political correctness on the National Mall that goes by the name of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Memorial. One would hardly know from George Segalīs powerful sculptures that World War II, rather than Rooseveltīs domestic policies, brought an end to the Great Depression. Its severity increased rather than decreased during the second New Deal. (Ask the Waltons.)
...
Click here to read the complete article (http://www.washtimes.com/op-ed/20010402-660476.htm)