Critics question Reagan legacy

[JoFerret]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3788229.stm

....critics point out that there was another side to his presidency - record budget deficits, economic pressure on the middle class, human rights abuses in Central America, and the Iran-Contra scandal.

Correctives are being issued even to the claim that he was the most popular president in modern history.

Less popular than successors

Gallup poll data suggest that he was roughly as popular as Bill Clinton over time - with President Clinton running slightly higher approval ratings than Reagan during the second half of each man's presidency.

Past presidents look a lot better when compared to the present

Mark Weisbrot,
Economist
And neither ever reached the 90% approval ratings that both George W Bush and his father achieved briefly early in their terms.

Economist Mark Weisbrot says the adulation in the wake of Reagan's death is natural.

"Past presidents look a lot better when compared to the present," he told BBC News Online.

Even Richard Nixon....
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[Tellurian]

1. Critics? Sounds like Bush is having a harder time bearing Reagan adoration

than most Democrats!

R-O-V-E..strikes again!

The Backlash Cometh!

[Somawas]

2. Nixon does not look better

even with the passage of time. Somewhere in the orgy of mourning someone kindly posted a link to Hunter Thompson's funeral piece on Nixon. When I read Hunter's line about how Nixon was so crooked he had to have aides screw him into his pants-all I could say was "harsh, but so very true."

On the other hand, Reagan was better than the present. Far more personable, less corrupt, less venal.

[Tellurian]

3. Bush Sr. didn't have the clout he has now when Nixon was prez..

It would have been Batman and Robin if he did.
Unfortunately, his pitiful spawn is a bumbling dilettante
destined for infamy.

[GaryL]

4. Less corrupt????!!!!

My God, the S&L debacle cost this country 1 trillion bucks alone. Nixon never would have done that. They're both rat bastards but Reagan has my vote for rat of the century. Dim son has got a way to go to catch up with both of them although if the morons in this country give him another 4 he just might make it.