Ronald Reagan left the White House more than 26 years ago, but his legacy still dominates the American political landscape, and a former Reagan political director says the Gipper’s record and principled positions explain why.
Reagan was born on February 6, 1911. Friday would have been his 104th birthday. When Reagan died in 2004, tens of millions of Americans turned out to honor him in California and in Washington. Long before the former California governor ascended to the presidency, he attracted a dedicated group of activists who worked tirelessly for his insurgent campaign against incumbent Republican President Gerald Ford in 1976 and for his successful White House bids in 1980 and 1984.
Frank Donatelli was a young operative in those early campaigns and later served as political director in the Reagan White House. He says it was easy to see why so many conservatives flocked to Reagan nearly 40 years ago.
“The country was headed in a fundamentally wrong direction in the 1970s. The economy was stagnating and we were on the defensive all around the world to Soviet communism. We needed somebody strong, somebody with a vision to reverse these trends. Reagan stood out as someone who had very strong beliefs, but more importantly, somebody that could actually implement those beliefs in a coherent program,” said Donatelli, who says the difference after eight years of reagan was obvious to most people.
“In the Reagan years, we saw a disastrous economy transformed into the fastest-growing economy that we’ve had in a long time, 18 million new jobs. On the foreign policy front, we began the process that ultimately saw the demise of the Soviet Union and international communism,” said Donatelli.
While the Reagan administration witnesses many fierce partisan battles on both foreign and domestic issues, today Democrats rarely invoke Reagan except to point out issues where they think his statements help their current positions. Donatelli thinks this stems from multiple motivations, some honorable and others less so.
“There is a segment of the Democratic Party that has honestly looked at the Reagan years and said his record was pretty good and the country was better off eight years after he was elected. Then there’s the other part of the party, like the current president, who quotes Reagan when it’s convenient for him. In other words, he’ll find these tiny little areas where he and Reagan seemingly agree and he uses that just to attack the rest of the Republican Party,” said Donatelli.
The vast majority of the time, according to Donatelli, Obama’s invocation of Reagan comes in a grossly misleading way.
“The classic example was him citing Reagan’s support for a 28 percent capital gains tax, which is what is in his budget. Of course, what he doesn’t point out is that Reagan favored 28 percent for all income and Obama’s now over 40 percent and trying to go even higher. So it’s very selective quotations on the president’s part,” said Donatelli.
For Republicans, Reagan still dominates policy debates and his legacy can be seen in every presidential race as multiple candidates jockey to claim the mantle of Reagan.
“They say nothing succeeds like success. The Lombardi Trophy is named for the man who won the first two Super Bowls, so politicians will always look for successful models to emulate,” said Donatelli.
These days, Republican factions often argue over where Reagan would fall along the GOP spectrum. Moderate sometimes assert Reagan wouldn’t even have a home in today’s party because it’s moved so far to the right. Conservatives point out Reagan challenged a moderate president of his own party and would among those standing on principle vs. taking the route of political expedience. Donatelli says they’re both right and they’re both wrong.
“Reagan was always a conservative and took conservative positions and tried to move the political spectrum to the right. That being said, he was not on a fool’s errand. He was always somebody practical enough to understand the importance of governing. So I don’t think you’d ever see him go over the side of the cliff. I think you’s always see him look to make the best deal possible,” said Donatelli.
“I think that’s something that we seem to be missing now. There’s a feeling that government just doesn’t work and so many of our institutions are broken. I don’t think that was the case when Reagan was president. I think the public is looking for somebody that can somebody that begin to repair some of our big institutions,” he said.
Donatelli says there are ultimately two versions of a president’s legacy. When it comes to the voters, he says the verdict is obvious.
“Here we are all these years later and I think the country has concluded that the eight years of Reagan’s presidency were an unqualified success,” said Donatelli.
As for history’s judgment, Donatelli says that tends to ebb and flow over time. He says when Bill Clinton was elected in 1992, Reagan was not viewed all that favorably but his reputation has been greatly burnished over time. In the long run, he believes the towering achievements of the Reagan years will look very good over the test of time.
“Everybody’s legacy goes up and down. However, I do think that the idea of 18 million new jobs and the end of Soviet communism and totalitarianism is something that will survive the ages and that the president’s legacy will continue to be very strong,” said Donatelli.