No. It was a fabulous and correct statement. He just didn't follow through with it.I suggest that Ronald Reagan did more to damage this nation...than he ever did as a positive. His "government is not the solution, government is the problem" is one of the worst comments any president has ever made to the people...and, in my opinion, the most damaging.
Ok, I'll bite: Why Coolidge?1 Washington
2. Eisenhower
3. Reagan
4. Truman
5. Coolidge
What do you think?
Are you really going to sit there and try to hollow out what Reagan did. He showed fortitude against the USSR, and there is no denying that. Hating rightwing presidents isn't going to change it. If you wait long enough for anything socialist it'll be doomed to fail. Reagan accelerated it greatly, by forcing them to try and keep up. They couldn't, they failed. End of story.
In '84 Reagan was wildly popular so it could have been somebody better than Mondale and it wouldn't have mattered.The USSR was on an economic down-fall because of it distancing itself from the western nations - way prior to Reagan. Reagan capitalized on the inevitable. Even today Russia needs an economic relationship with western nations - despite Putin's posturing anti-pretty much everything that the western allies stand for. He knows it and so do the western allies.
But are you saying that this is what you attribute to Reagan's greatness "in your eyes"?
North Korea is the next evil empire that will go under because of the dictatorship that's existed so long, which has also distance itself from the world economies.
Before you start on the Reagan hating right wing stuff - I voted for Reagan both terms. In 80, Reagan was running against Carter. It was fairly obvious that Carter would have a difficult time mustering any political strength in Washington. In 84, Mondale was marred by simply being VP to Carter. He had no presence in Washington. He probably had less political power among the Washington Royalty than Carter did. And his Ferraro VP choice - hoping that could lift his popularity up - but no buenos. It was simply a bad choice - she too lacked a needed connection with the Washington Royalty. But as I recall she drew more crowds on the campaign trail than Mondale did. People were really curious - wanted to see a history making choice for VP.
I certainly wouldn't proclaim Reagan to be the best president. But he was one hell of an actor...during his presidency. He deserved an Oscar for that performance.
What do you think?
The USSR was doomed to fail once Gorbachev took over. Glasnost accelerated the fall of the USSR more than any foreign influence.
Are you really going to sit there and try to hollow out what Reagan did. He showed fortitude against the USSR, and there is no denying that. Hating rightwing presidents isn't going to change it. If you wait long enough for anything socialist it'll be doomed to fail. Reagan accelerated it greatly, by forcing them to try and keep up. They couldn't, they failed. End of story.
Reagan would be about 5th or 6th on my list.
1. Washington
2. Lincoln
3. FDR
4. Teddy
5. Truman
Okay, but he is the most popular President after World War II, that's crucial.
I suggest that Ronald Reagan did more to damage this nation...than he ever did as a positive. His "government is not the solution, government is the problem" is one of the worst comments any president has ever made to the people...and, in my opinion, the most damaging.
That would be the "Not opening the thread and posting" action.Where is the 'I don't give a crap' option?
By what metric? JFK is post-WWII and he might be the second-most popular president ever after Lincoln.
Being popular doesn't mean being a good President. The biggest reason Kennedy was popular was because he was assassinated.
You either are very young...or very forgetful.
Either way...John and Jackie Kennedy were incredibly POPULAR while he was alive.
He was popular with the people who voted for him and I wasn't one of them (yes I was old enough to vote and did). In fact if you knew your facts Kennedy only won by a little over 100K votes...hardly popular.
More so after he was assassinated. But missing getting us into a war with the USSR, the Bay of Pigs and sending ground troop to SE Asia was not popular with the American people. Yes I remember them all and getting a military extension because of the Cuba Missile crisis.... I will not forgive him.
Ok, I'll bite: Why Coolidge?
Coolidge was one leader reluctant to get involved, to use his power except when it was actually needed. I appreciate the way he decisively settled the Boston Police Strike as did a lot of Americans of the time. Brought him to national prominence and the VP title under Harding.
He took over after that scandal ridden Harding administration, an administration which was in the midst of trying to bring the country back to normal after the disastrous period with Woodrow Wilson as president. Wilson had gotten the US involved in a war where we should never have been. With that war came an overbearing interference and intervention by the Federal government [Wilson] into the economy as well bringing with that a horrendous assault on our first amendment, as well as other, rights. We had massive war debt with a resultant recession/depression and high unemployment.
Coolidge somehow shrank the annual federal budget by 43% in the years 1921-24. He showed that it is, indeed, possible to lower taxes and at the same time reduce our debt.
He also presided over a very peaceful nation, he did less, rather than more, to good result. He was strong in the areas of personal liberties, on race relations with he and the Republican party fighting the democrats in trying to pass anti-lynching legislation, calling for racial harmony and establishing commissions to help bridge the gaps of the times. Congress, unfortunately, did not go along with any of that. He was also against the segregation in the Federal government earlier instituted by Wilson.
He shrank the Federal budget reducing the Federal government in general along the way, oversaw a period of high wages, low unemployment [generally under 5%], low taxes, few strikes. He allowed the marketplace, and not the public sector, to manage its own ups and downs...unlike Hoover and FDR, whose policies of more and more government intervention led to a worse and worse economy which was the Great Depression.
More presidents/leaders should follow his model.
Wat? Reagan sucked. Gotta go with Eisenhower.