The Madras Pioneer

Reagan would be 101

Tony Ahern

February 08, 2012

As the four Republican candidates tried to get through Monday without a campaign-crushing faux pas, the party noted what would have been the 101st birthday of Ron Reagan -- whose spirit still hovers over the GOP, whose name gets dropped more often than a Patriots' pass.

So, happy birthday to the man who inspired more patriotism than any president in the last half century.

At the risk of inciting Reagan-philes nationwide, I'd venture that the current president and Ron Reagan share some commonality.

Reagan was hated by liberal Democrats then as much as Obama is hated by conservative Republicans now. But Reagan's grandfatherly smile helped defuse his opponents' ire. Obama is still searching, if he hasn't given up, to find his magic defense.

Both came in facing huge economic crises, and both crises deepened during their initial years in the White House. Both have been the deciding engines that created historic, huge deficits. But both (if current trends continue) are seeing economic turnarounds at the end of their first terms.

Reagan rode his turnaround to a landslide re-election in 1984. Will Obama do the same?

It can be said that Reagan was the first modern-era president as the computer age was born. Sure, cell phones were about the size of a Nike shoebox back then, but the age had begun. Now, President Obama is holding Facebook forums.

Happy 101st, President Reagan. Your image, if not on Rushmore, is at least a movable statue for the modern day Republican Party. Your mantra of small government-big military is still the main red meat at Republican debates, still a mandatory calling card of any hopeful GOP candidate.

The Democrats don't have such a figure so universally revered in the party. JFK, Clinton, each too flawed. RFK and Hillary Clinton might have attained such honor had they made the White House. Reagan's most loyal fans shutter at the thought, but maybe someday it will be Barack Obama.

Something else the two would have in common.