Oh Good lord.
"My father would be perplexed by the overabundance of meanness in the political field. And he would be deeply saddened by it." Two words: Lee Atwater.
Compassion? AIDS. Goodness and dignity? Iran-Contra. Reagan sent Donald Rumsfeld to Iraq to give presents and compliments to Saddam Hussein. He vetoed economic sanctions against the South African apartheid regime. He enabled decades of union-busting with his firing of the air-traffic controllers. He presided over a huge increase in economic disparity. And on and on and on.
I realize that the continuing work in canonizing Reagan and All His Works continues unabated, but even by the typical standards of right-wing hagiography, Ms. Davis' article is pretty absurd.
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A Shared Father
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He believed that words can wound, that even in the harsh, muckraking world of politics, it simply isn't right to insult another person. He believed that this country's greatness came from its collective heart, from its history of being a "melting pot" and that the dark passages of our history came when we lost sight of our own heart. He had no tolerance for racism. He was raised in a home where people were never judged by the color of their skin. He was raised in a home where everyone was considered a child of God, and he carried that belief with him throughout his life.
Politics aside, I think most Americans long for those qualities in a president, particularly in these uncertain times.
When we were in Washington, D.C., for my father's service, I was taken on a tour of the White House. I hadn't been there since he was president, and in those years I couldn't appreciate it--I was too blinded by my own saga of being a very reluctant First Daughter.
But four years ago, in June, I finally understood the reverence my father felt for that building—for its history, its memories, its significance. To walk through the White House and really absorb the environment is to remember that this country was founded on the idea of respect for life, truth and freedom. It was also founded out of rebellion, but that did not diminish the dignity the Founding Fathers brought to the task.
My father's dignity didn't die four years ago, and neither did our longing for it. The anniversary of his death may best be marked by reflecting on how he lived his life.
© 2008
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