David Greenberg discusses the ascendance of Ronald Reagan mythologizing now sidling about the Republican collective consciousness.
Freshly finished spiking a middling CBS docudrama about Mr. Reagans presidency, Republicans are eager to further enshrine their glorious leader.
Republicans see Reagan equal in stature to the towering figures of American history like Washington, Lincoln or Jefferson. Grover Norquist wants to put Mr. Reagan on the $10 bill and, in direct violation of a law Mr. Reagan himself signed, place a monument to him on the Mall.
Greenburg observes, however, that this idolation is first and foremost a rehabilitation of a divisive and unsuccessful presidency.
He observes:
In February 1987, for example, 53 percent of the public disapproved of Reagan’s performance while just 40 percent approved.
As Greenburg also notes, we do occasionaly rehabilitate presidents in this way. Harry Truman is much better regarded today than at the end of his presidency.
Nevertheless, the CBS brouhaha and the outrageous plans of Mr. Norquist reveal that this rehabiliation is all and only a Republican affair. The Reagan rehabilitation is nothing more than party politics. Democrats are right in treating it as such.
The Republicans have bring the ball to the court and then get angry when the Democrats have the temerity to field a team of their own.
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