It seems astounding to me now, but some time ago, back in the late 1970s, I was actually quite a fan of Ronald Reagan. I look back now and wonder why did I actually admire Ronald Reagan in those days?
A few different reasons spring to mind, the first being that I was an angry, ignorant teenager at the time, upset with what I perceived as American impotence during the Iranian hostage crisis. I was angry at our inability to strike back at Khomeini and felt Jimmy Carter was a failure at leading us out of the mess.
I've always had a visceral dislike for bullies. By the time of the Iranian hostage crisis I had built up a strong dislike for totalitarian Fascism and Communism and feared the growing religious fanaticism coming out of countries like Iran.
Along came Reagan with his TV-ready Americana mask. He spoke plainly against the totalitarian Communism I despised. He projected a confidence that I latched onto. By the time of the debates with Jimmy Carter I remember rooting strongly for Reagan, who worked his charm on the TV audience effectively. Reagan was my answer to American impotence. He would make it better, make me proud to be an American again. After his election I reveled in his tough "evil empire" talk against the USSR. I liked his emphasis on a strong military.
I stayed with Reagan through 1984 when I had my first chance as a 20 year-old man to vote in a national election. By that time I was starting to feel uneasy about his union-busting and "trickle-down" economics. And I did not like his non-response to the killing of the Marines in Lebanon. But I ignored these feelings, "stayed the course" and voted for Reagan. I was still a supporter, even, unbelievably to me now, arguing for the validity of his Grenada invasion.
It was not until Reagan's second term that I began to turn away from Reagan. I supported the U.S. attack on Libya in response to the German disco bombing, but distinctly remember chiding another Reagan supporter for being gung-ho about it, sad that more innocents were killed. Then the Iran-Contra episode exposed Reagan to me as either a complete liar or a complete incompetent, not in control of his cabinet. The horrors leaking out of Latin America, the failure to address the U.S. deficit and the way Reagan and his brethren ignored the health care crisis in America started to awaken me also.
1988: the Bush-Dukakis campaign. Disgusted and outraged by the Lee Atwater smear campaign waged against Michael Dukakis, walking down 5th Avenue one day I encountered a street corner voter registration booth. I re-registered (I had moved since 1984) and said I wanted to be registered as a Democrat.
Of course as the Republicans became even more bullying, more fascistic through the 1990s, my standing as a Democrat was solidified, even while being frustrated with Bill Clinton's triangulation and failure to get a health care bill passed.
This current Reagan-worship by the media is now really beginning to wear thin on me. Besides the insane phony hyperbole spewed by the typical TV robo-pundits it keeps bringing me back to a time when I was foolish, angry and ignorant. Ignorant of what Reagan was doing in Latin America. Ignorant of the war Reagan waged against unions and the environment. Ignorant of how the US in the 1950s overthrew the democratically elected leader of Iran, installed the despicable Shah, basically creating the situation where the brutal Khomeini assumed power.
Looking back Ronald Reagan was no great president in my opinion. In fact I now think he was a truly awful president. The greatness his admirers speak of with no hesitation strikes me as an eggshell, thin and fragile with no substance. The greatness of Reagan is all mask. This is as plain to me now as the nose on my face. But it's certainly fascinating, strange and somewhat disturbing to think I wasn't always of this opinion.