Reporter blames present U.S. problems on Reagan

Parry reported on a number of Iran-Contra scandals for the Associated Press and Newsweek during the 1980s. He maintains that a number of present economic, political and social problems can be traced to the Reagan presidency and that other historians, sociopolitical commentators and journalists are beginning to say the same thing. Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter were better Presidents than Reagan, Parry declares, because they tried to come to terms with the problems the country still has. He writes how Nixon created the Environmental Protection Agency, opened the doors to China and advocated a peaceful plan for ending the Cold War. Ford continued many of these policies. Carter brought more respect for human rights into diplomacy and pushed a comprehensive energy policy while warning Americans about dependence on foreign oil. They weren’t successful in many of their aims, Parry maintains, because powerful vested interests took advantage of their shortcomings. Reagan had a great personality who could, according to Parry, convince Americans that they were threatened by African-American welfare, left-wing radicals from Central America, an evil empire with its capital in Moscow and the federal government that promised to do good but was up to no good. He told white men they were victims of reverse discrimination and political correctness. He allowed the manufacture of gas guzzlers, hired individuals who sought to dismantle policies of those trying to take care of the environment, pushed for hands-off policies on banking and reduced taxes on the wealthy. In foreign affairs, especially in the Middle East, it was the Reagan administration who gave aid to Islamic fundamentalists in Afghanistan in order to combat Soviet involvement. Carter initiated the Afghan covert operation but Reagan escalated it, Parry says. It was during this time that Osama bin Laden received sophisticated weapons from US shipments. It was also the Reagan administration that supported right-wing Central American governments, giving rise eventually to left wing governments that are anti-American. He helped to develop a generation of neoconservative intellectuals to shape America’s view of the world and targeted those who criticized his policies. Parry underlines the divisiveness of the Reagan administration, in spite of its sunny-appearing policies, and other problems that continue to the present time. For that reason, Parry believes Reagan belongs near the bottom of the list of Presidents.

White House by Chuck Kennedy

President Barack Obama talks with aides outside the U.S. Ambassador's residence in Paris before returning to Washington

Michael Shear, of the Washington Post, recently expressed his disappointment with Barack Obama for pandering to the cult of Reagan. He gives as an example Obama’s creation of a commission to honor Ronald Reagan on his 100th birthday. He quotes Obama saying, "President Reagan helped as much as any president to restore a sense of optimism in our country, a spirit that transcended politics -- that transcended even the most heated arguments of the day." This, according to Shear, is part of the pandering politics surrounding Reagan, saluting a President who raised many more problems than he solved. Will Bunch,a senior writer for the Philadelphia Daily News and author of the forthcoming "Tear Down This Myth: How the Reagan Legacy Distorts Our Politics and Haunts Our Future, "also maintains that Reagan didn’t earn admiration as President. Bunch writes, “the Great Communicator often used his remarkable powers of persuasion to advance a policy agenda that was not helpful to the generation that came after him. America's massive debt to China and other nations, rampant consumerism, an unregulated Wall Street and willful ignorance about issues from climate change to energy alternatives all have roots that were planted during Reagan's 1980s.” Bunch goes on to say that while Obama moves forward with change that undoes the myth of Reagan, he will have to muster the practical ways in optimism of the very president who had the appearance but not the deeds of the president. Critics look at the Reagan administration from a relatively recent history. It will be interesting to learn what future historians have to say about the man so many Americans believed was a good president that others consider to be one of the worst.