Hi, Duncan!!
I watched American Experience last night, about Ronald Reagan. While I am still disturbed by his lack of attention at times, and the degree to which the First Lady ran things, particularly during the latter part of his administration, I was also struck for the first time by how much he feared nuclear war. Of course, he had a different way of expressing that than did the peaceniks, but I now have a much broader understanding of Reagan the man. I was also very impressed by his honesty, in his willingness to order an investigation of Iran Contra and then shamefully announce that he was wrong. I am impressed that he had shame, because it shows some integrity. As many have said, Bill Clinton has no shame!
I also thought it very interesting about how much his character was shaped by being the adult child of an alcoholic--he could participate in an event and absolutely convince himself it played out differently, which is the result of surviving in an alcoholic home. Bill Clinton is also the adult (step)child of an alcoholic, and it made me curious as to whether the overachieving characteristics of people who come from this pathology may have resulted in other presidents whose parents were alcoholic. Can you think of any more?
And I thought that his last letter to the American people, announcing his Alzheimer's disease, was really eloquent. It brought goosebumps to me. Thanks for suggesting that I watch the program. PBS is repeating the entire program, which is several hours, this Saturday night, incidentally, for those of you who have an interest but missed it.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
VOTE VOTE VOTE VOTE
I found a very cool interactive place where everyone can vote about how they view the president's honesty. After you click it shows what the percentages are at the moment, and it breaks the whole thing down by party affiliation as well. I thought it was fun to participate.
washingtonpost.com
Christine |
