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June 08, 2004
Slate on Reagan
It struck me today that when you compare Slate's coverage of Reagan's death with their general coverage of George W. Bush in the here and now, the coverage of Reagan is a lot nastier, although the headlines are usually worse than the body of the various pieces.
I think this probably has to do with the coming of age bias of most of the mainstream media. Guys like Saletan were much younger and much more likely to dislike those figures they disliked at that age but now they are serious journalists. But those first impressions carry over. Does anyone think Hitchens would dislike Reagan were he President in 2004? Probably not.
I wonder what kind of implications this will have for me personally. 20 years from now there could be some President way worse than Bush but I might be inclined to give him a pass because he doesn't stir up the same passions Bush did at age 21. Matthew Yglesias noticed a similar thing going on with George Will and John Kerry -- Will attacks Kerry this week for his stance on nuclear waste in Nevada, but you can tell Will's heart just isn't in it. I guess he realizes that at this age he could really go after Kerry, but what for? Bush is no hero to true believers of the conservative movement that Will made his career in, and I guess there aren't as many chicks to get being a fiery conservative pundit when you qualify for Medicare.
The flip side of this is that middle age conservative journalists are going mental about Reagan now for the same reason. When they were 15 or 20 or whatever and wore their Ronald Reagan button proudly on their jean jacket and everyone they knew at Harvard or wherever was just shocked that they weren't a liberal it forged a real bond. When I was 6 I liked Reagan just because he was the President...I imagine that if you're of an impressionable age and a Republican this guy was great and the fact that all your liberal friends couldn't stand him made it even better.
The thing that confounds me is that when you take all the things away from Reagan that even I would grudingly admit make him a good politician/President (good speaker, wrote some of his own speeches, wrote pen pal letters to admirers, right on Communism -- like all other Cold War Presidents of course, somewhat responsible on budgetary matters) you basically have leftover the things that George W. Bush reminds conservatives of Reagan, and the completely empty things like "owns a ranch."
The saddest thing is that Bush has eschewed all the great qualities of his father (namely his diplomatic abilities and experience) for the most shallow of Reagan's conservative appeals because that's what gets votes. John Kerry's no prize and he wasn't my first or even second choice, but you get the sense that after the campaign is over he'll enjoy being President for all the nitty gritty details, the same way he enjoys being in the Senate and I'm sure being Lt. Governor and a prosecutor, he likes to do these jobs. Bush seems to like being President because of the permanent campaign, afterall campaigning is the only thing he's been a real success at in his entire life. That's the job he likes and ultimately having a guy like that may not be terrible for mayor of your city but as President it's a joke that's just not funny anymore.
Posted by Chris at June 8, 2004 04:59 PM
Comments
you basically have leftover the things that George W. Bush reminds conservatives of Reagan, and the completely empty things like "owns a ranch."
I think this is so true. Bush has a very shallow understanding of what Reagan was about. Reagan was plain spoken, always wore a suit to the Oval Office, and exhibited a muted disdain for the press.
So W thinks that if he can be plain spoken, always wear a suit to the Oval Office, and show a disdain for the press, he'll be all set. It really exemplifies Bush's intellectual laziness.
Posted by: Trent at June 10, 2004 05:18 PM
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