John L. Perry
Monday, June 7, 2004

Not that they won’t try. They will, the moment Regan is interred, just as foretold by Peggy Noonan, the nonpareil presidential speechwriter who understands such things.

But that will not tarnish the gift’s durability. It’s a gift that keeps on giving, for the more blatant become the slanders against Bush – and the resurrection of old canards against the Gipper – the more it will all redound to this president’s benefit come November.

Media Transfixed

The immediate consequence of Reagan’s death is this: It is keeping the news media, left-biased though it most certainly is, fixated upon the character and greatness of the 40th president.

Whether they relish it, and you know the world’s mass-comm lefties are choking on their bile, they have no choice other than to pay respects to Reagan, however grudging.

And as they do, the resemblances between what made Reagan great and what also characterize Bush cannot be obscured. Nor do the similarities have to be pointed out. They shine through, irrepressibly.

A New Mount Rushmore

It took Reagan’s long-anticipated death for the world to recognize him as one of America’s greatest past presidents, along with Abraham Lincoln, Franklin D. Roosevelt and George Washington. And now – despite, even because of – the distortions in the media, Bush is going to take his place among them.

The resemblances are too striking to ignore: bone-deep patriotic devotion to country, unswerving adherence to principle that rises above avaricious partisan politics, fearless determination to see the cause through despite the meanest sort of obstructionism, ridicule and vituperation.

Is Bush a carbon copy of Reagan? Certainly not, no more than Regan was a carbon copy of FDR. Or FDR of Lincoln. Or Lincoln of Washington. Yet those five share the fundamental character traits that set them apart from all other presidents. Name one other who can rank in their number.

This Is What Matters

Reagan’s passing served to jerk the world’s attention back to basics, back to what it’s really all about in the American presidency, back to what character means in the world’s greatest Republic.

Character – which is so difficult to define without seeming to lapse into the banal – is the one ingredient absolutely essential to great presidents. Washington, Lincoln, FDR and Reagan had that, as Bush has it, in the required prescription and plentitude.

Just look at what Reagan’s death has already wrought.

It overshadowed the 60th commemoration of the Investiture of Northwest Europe, the liberation of France and the defeat of Nazi Germany.

Another Bequest

It overshadowed the ending of the Cold War, which – it’s now beginning to sink in on the world – was Reagan’s doing.

It reduced to almost irrelevancy the Group of Eight summit of the heads of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States, plus the European Union, this week in Sea Island, Ga.

It overshadowed the rapid assertions of newfound virtual, if not quite yet absolute, sovereignty of Iraq.

It overshadowed the progression of a U.S.-United Kingdom resolution in the United Nations Security Council to bless this new Iraq and its joint military security with the U.S.-led coalition.

Brief Lull in Mudslinging

So all-pervasive has been this nation’s awed remembrance of Reagan that the Democratic Party’s presumed presidential nominee was obliged to call off his campaigning against Bush until after the sunset burial service on Friday.

Throughout all this period, without Bush or the Republican Party’s having to utter one word, Americans will be realizing what a Reagan-like president they have who is asking for another term to serve them.

It’s all huzzahs now for Reagan, but it was not always thus. Honest recollections will bring back the nasty things the Democrats had to say about him.

Saddle Mates

How Reagan was nothing but a cowboy actor. Today they say Bush is acting like a cowboy.

How Reagan was not too bright, not exactly “all there.” Today they trot out the same slander about Bush.

How Reagan was such a reckless danger, how he was going to get everyone killed in a nuclear World War III. Today they accuse Bush of rendering America less safe from terrorists.

No Appeasers, They

How Reagan was pulling end runs around the United Nations, acting unilaterally, even aggressively, against the Soviet Union. Today they level the same accusations against Bush for acting preemptively against the Iraq dictatorship.

How Reagan was off his rocker calling the Soviet Union the “Evil Empire.” Today they abuse Bush for “exaggerating” about the threat of weapons of mass destruction in the hands of terrorists.

How Reagan was lost in a comic-book world when he proposed “Star Wars,” the strategic defense initiative that proved to be the last straw that toppled the Soviet Union. Today they ridicule Bush for reviving a similar missile-defense strategy.

Tax-Cutting Duo

How goofy Reagan was with his tax cuts, which they laughed at as “Reagan-omics.” Today they belabor Bush for his tax cuts, which, like Reagan’s, reinvigorated a slumping economy that each inherited from Democratic predecessors (Reagan from Jimmy Carter, Bush from Bill Clinton).

How Reagan was debased as “an amiable boob” because of his irrepressible optimism. Today they belittle the warm and buoyant Bush for not being “intellectual” like his dour and grumpy opponent.

But the thing that tops them all is character, the kind Reagan had, the same kind Bush has. They stand out in bold relief, unavoidable, undeniable.

That was Ronald Reagan’s generous gift to Bush on June 5. It will be George W. Bush’s great gift to share with the American people on Nov. 2.

John L. Perry, a prize-winning newspaper editor and writer who served on White House staffs of two presidents, is a regular columnist for NewsMax.com.

http://www.newsmax.com/pundits/archives/John_L._Perry-archive.shtml

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