Posted today on The Nation's website:
Reagan's Politics of Passion
by John Nichols
Posted June 7, 2004
Rest assured that the radical reworking of history that America witnessed in the hours after Ronald Reagan died Saturday at age 93 will be temporary. While the over-the-top media coverage and official commentary regarding the 40th President's passing has made him out to be such a noble figure that otherwise rational people have been heard to suggest that Reagan was the greatest president of the twentieth century, it will not take long for a balancing to begin. In short order, the assessments of Reagan the man, and of his tenure in the Oval Office, will be tempered.
Then, conservatives and liberals will be free to consider ths ideologically-driven--and misguided--President's record with eyes wide open.
For now, however, realism is in short supply--much to the detriment of not just of the historical record but of Reagan's memory.
More...
http://thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20040621&s=nicholsreaganRp