Reagan v. Obama: A Comparison & A Lesson

Published on: 9th October, 2009

America is and always has been a center-right nation. It is when we adhere to that course of policy that we are the greatest nation on earth. It is when we drift from that direction that we falter, flounder, lose our way, lose our confidence and our courage. For example, consider, no matter how painful it is, the Jimmy Carter years. America was a ship in distress during that horrible administration – taking on water, directionless, helpless. Confidence was at an all time low. If you are old enough to remember those years, you know what I am talking about. It seemed that as a nation we could do nothing right. Our diplomatic staff was outrageously kidnapped and held hostage in Tehran when the Ayatollah Komeini revolution overthrew the Shah and Islamic extremism seized Iran.

For 445 days, America was helpless, impotent, weak – an extremist country had quite literally kidnapped our diplomatic staff from our embassy in Tehran – American soil, under all rules of international law. The images of our countrymen, blindfolded, hands tied, being led around by muslim thugs was infuriating. And Carter did nothing for far too long. When he finally came to his senses, and authorized a rescue attempt, it all went horribly wrong, and once again, the images of our helicopters crashed and burning in the desert were both depressing and infuriating. Once again, under Carter and the democrats, America was seen as helpless, impotent, a paper tiger being dominated by a band of Islamist thugs.

Those were horrendous years for America – not only were we weak and impotent to the rest of the world, at home our economy was in shambles – remember “stagflation?”  Very high inflation, unemployment, interest rates – it was 4 years of unmitigated disaster for America. With Jimmy Carter at the helm. His election to the Presidency was then one big awful mistake, just as we have today.

When we experiment with democrats – and give them a shot at the helm, it is always regretful. And that’s because of the 2 major political parties, the democrats are relatively lacking in backbone, can-do Americanism, and sense of right and wrong. As Ann Coulter so correctly said, ever few years we forget how badly democrats run America, and we give them another shot. And inevitably, we are reminded why it is that we don’t elect democrats to the Presidency. They never fail to disappoint. And so it is today.

Back to my point – which is America is a center-right country. It is that direction that has made us great. When we are at our best, we are self reliant, responsible, prideful, patriotic, productive and positive. All of the qualities that are under attack by the democrats.

On January 20, 1981, as Ronald Wilson Reagan placed his hand on the Bible and took the oath of office, the Iranians at almost the very same moment released the hostages, after 445 days in captivity. America was back, and the Iranians knew it. Reagan was President, and the entire world knew what that meant. America was once again the greatest nation on earth, but more importantly, we knew that we were. Reagan almost instantaneously restored our confidence in ourselves, and fear in the hearts of tinpot tyrannical dictators throughout the world.

We desperately are in need of that kind of leadership now. Ronald Reagan is the anti-Obama. Ronald Reagan was an American Icon – a proud American, a compassionate man, an affable, funny, confident man who made us all feel the way that he did about America – he loved America, and with him at the helm, so did we.

Now compare those circumstances to what we  have today. The differences are striking and depressing. Our President spent much of his childhood in Indonesia - our President obviously does not share Reagan’s love for America – our President mostly apologizes to the world for America – our President’s wife proclaimed her dissatisfaction with the country that provided her with so much to be grateful for – and yet, she bit the hand that fed her, declaring that she had never been proud of her country before hubby ran for President. Our President promised hope and change – when all we have seen is corruption, hype, hypocrisy, political correctness, radical leftist associations and opinions, extremely questionable relationships with shady characters, radicals, and filthy corrupt organizations. Our President promised transparency, when all we have seen is hidden agendas, deceitful intentions, and complete lack of moral conviction. Our President is all about political expediency – our President is all about narcissism – our President is all about redistribution of wealth.

We have swerved away from our center-right course – and indulged in an experiment with a no longer deniable radical liberal elitist who shares very few values that we hold near and dear. His comments in San Francisco to liberal elites, revealing his elitist opinion that “Americans cling to their guns and their religion,” was of course designed for that audience – his speeches in Pennsylvania of course contained no such language. Our President is clearly duplicitous – another indicator that he has no moral convictions other than his own ambition.

The comparison between Reagan and Obama should to any sane, reasonable person, reveals just how far we have sunk since 1988. There is no confidence in America or Obama by the world – we are once again mired in a swamp of doubt, fear, confusion and impotence. We have once again, as is usually the case under democrat leadership, lost our way.

When will we learn? When will we remember what we have learned over and over again? Our direction is center-right – that is the tried and true path to greatness, to confidence, to success. Every time we hand over leadership to elitist, left wing democrats, we experience only malaise – as Jimmy Carter lectured to us in the 70s.

America is not about malaise – we are about success and confidence – and the one positive note to focus on in this comparison of Reagan and Obama is this – Jimmy Carter gave rise to Ronald Reagan – to whom will Obama give rise? That is a very exciting thought!

Readers Comments