President Obama, in contrast to many Democrats, understands the nature of appeal. During the 2008 campaign he drew fire from the Clintons for calling President Ronald Reagan a “trans formative” president. In his book “The Audacity of Hope,” he wrote that Reagan’s appeal went beyond his skills as a communicator. “Reagan spoke to America’s longing for order,” Mr. Obama wrote, “our need to believe that we are not simply subject to blind, impersonal forces but that we can shape our individual and collective destinies, so long as we rediscover the traditional virtues of hard work, patriotism, personal responsibility, optimism and faith.” And he seems to have channeled more than Reagan’s oratory — President Obama’s decision to pull the family planning provision out of the stimulus package nicely mirrors Reagan’s decision to hold off on abortion and other social issues.
Reagan’s plan for economic recovery traveled a rocky road. The budget and tax bills were enacted, but the nation endured a grim downturn in 1981 and ’82 before the back of the recession was broken by the fiscal policies of the Federal Reserve under Paul Volcker, a Wall Street banker and Carter appointee who nonetheless got Reagan’s full backing and, in a wonderful twist of history, is now a key member of the Obama economic team. “Stay the course,” became Reagan’s mantra during the economic low point of his presidency. It could well become President Obama’s rallying cry in the months ahead of this Friday the Thirteenth.
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