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February 13, 2012
Binyamin Rose: Back to the Bunker: How a life-risking act by a Christian family during the Holocaust saved a family and built a thriving community a world away
Menachem Wecker: Business Schools Teach Real Estate Despite Troubled Housing Market
February 10, 2012
Lisa M. Krieger: Man with defibrillator demands access to his own heart's information
David G. Savage: Why activists may not be in a hurry to have High Court rule on alternative marriage
February 9, 2012
Laura McMullen: 10 Least Expensive Public Schools for Out-of-State Students
Kimberly Palmer: How to actually enjoy -- relaxing, financially -- your vacation
February 8, 2012
Warren Richey: Why momentous Prop. 8 ruling might not satisfy gay-rights groups
Menachem Wecker: Though Controversial, LL.M.'s Can Lead to Specialized Legal Jobs
The Kosher Gourmet byDana Velden: Going to the bother of making soup? You know it better be good. This CREAM OF TOMATO SOUP certainly is! And it's a cinch to make, too (Includes techinques and serving secrets)
February 7, 2012
Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.: Caught off-guard? President's Super Bowl interview with Matt Lauer gives those who need a reason not to vote for him, a darn good one
Suzanne Bohan: Leaping lizards! Tiny reptiles advancing robot design
February 6, 2012
Jonathan Tobin: Iran Threatens Israel With Destruction, But the New York Times Doesn't Hear It
Jeffrey Fleishman: In newly democratic Egypt, tens of democracy activists jailed, to stand trial; their groups are 'threatening the stability of the homeland'
Julie Deardorff : Researchers say antioxidants may not be that effective and could do more harm than good
Mark Clayton: How did Anonymous hackers eavesdrop on FBI and Scotland Yard?
February 3, 2012
Edmund Sanders : Israeli official says Iran is creating missile that could reach East Coast of US
Victoria Kim: Immigrant-smuggling ring used black drivers to avoid racial profiling
February 2, 2012
Jim Carney: Wrong number call may have saved her life
Reza Kahlili : Ex-CIA spy in Iran's Revolutionary Guard: What Obama doesn't grasp about striking deals with Tehran
Tina Susman: For woodchuck rescuer, every day is Groundhog Day
February 1, 2012
Brian Bennett: US officials see increasing threat of domestic attack from Iran
Emily Brandon: How to Take Advantage of New 401(k) Fee Disclosures
January 31, 2012
January 30, 2012
Paul Richter and Ramin Mostaghim: Misreading Teheran's limits -- deadly and economically devastating as they may be -- is a risk administration, Europe seem willing to take
Suzanne Bohan: Warning: Nap-deprived tots missing more than sleep, study finds
Meg Handley: Banks Revamping Rewards Programs to Woo Customers
January 27, 2012
Caroline B. Glick: Obama: Of course I intend to prevent a nuclear holocaust . . . in a few months
Yochonon Donn: In liberal New York City, fervently-Orthodox Jews may soon be getting a district to call their own
Jeannine Stein: An inflated ego and thinking you're 'all that' doesn't just make others sick of you, it can make you ill
Katy Hopkins: New budget rules may affect how much money you get for college
January 26, 2012
Ed Koch: To the New York Times, calling for the murder of Jews by those capable of having their incitement taken seriously isn't news
Jeannine Stein: Mental illness struck one in five U.S. adults in 2010: Report
January 25, 2012
Richard Simon: House passes two bills endorsing the use of religious symbols at military memorials
Fred Weir: Putin: Multiethnic Russia cannot survive as a US-style 'melting pot'; must find its own way
Susan Johnston: 5 Sneaky Coupon Strategies Consumers Should Watch Out For
January 24, 2012
Carol Clark: The price of your soul: How your brain decides whether to 'sell out'
Caroline B. Glick: America lost most in 'Arab Spring'. Sadly, many voters still don't grasp the extent
Warren Richey: Drug criminal scores win in GPS ruling from conservative-leaning high court
Erika Bolstad: Black conservatives gather to talk about gaining strength
January 23, 2012
Melissa Dribben: Jewish voters to play a key role in Florida's Republican primary
Jordan Rau: In quest to grow, Catholic hospital system will announce this morning its break from church
Ali Safi: U.S. envoy gives Taliban terms for peace talks
January 19, 2012
January 18, 2012
January 17, 2012
Frank J. Gaffney Jr.: No-kidding red lines: U.S. response to an Iranian nuke may be bluster, but Israel's won't be
David G. Savage: They sued their principals after slandering them online --- now the cases are headed to the Supreme Court
David Francis: Where to Invest in 2012: With stocks expected to rebound, opportunity abounds for investors
January 13, 2012
Ben Lynfield: Israeli lawmakers move to annex Jewish Judea, one museum at a time
Alexia Elejalde-Ruiz: Thriving through touch: Gentle massage helps older people with low mobility improve in mind and body
January 12, 2012
Warren Richey: Landmark Supreme Court ruling a 'resounding win' for religious groups
Warren Richey: Supreme Court says no to new rule on eyewitness testimony
John Fauber : Statins found to raise diabetes risk in postmenopausal women
Katy Hopkins : Consider This Before You Pay for an Online Degree
The Kosher Gourmet by Joseph Erdos: This mushroom and barley soup has an intense -- almost nutty -- flavor that mixes robust with Middle East. It has creaminess without cream
January 11, 2012
Shari Roan: Millions of atrial fibrillation sufferers at risk for devastating, but preventable, stroke
Tom Hussain: Pakistan -- recipient of more than $21 billion in civilian and military aid -- speeds pursuit of Iranian pipeline, defying US
David G. Savage: High court signals it won't be loosening TV's 'indecency' rules
Stephen Ceasar: Oklahoma's Islamic law amendment can't go into effect, court rules
January 10, 2012
Reza Kahlili: From an ex-CIA spy: US must exploit new split in Iran's Revolutionary Guard
Karen Kaplan: Study: Nicotine replacement products ineffective when used in real-life situations
January 9, 2012
Michael Doyle: Put through legal hell over dream home, couple fought back hard --- all the way to Supreme Court
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Jewish World Review
June 10, 2004
/ 21 Sivan, 5764
A chance to settle down and see where we are
By
Collin Levey
http://www.jewishworldreview.com |
When historians sit to pen the chapters on the 2004 presidential race years from now, Ronald Reagan will have a paragraph of his own. It won't be a tortured comparison with a current candidate. And it won't be because his death changed the outcome of the election — November is still a few months and many turns of the wheel away.
But the Gipper's voice this week resonated through the haze of years. It reminded us of his confidence in times more uncertain than these. And the sound cooled a molten period of national politics, at least for a moment.
Since the uprisings in Fallujah and Najaf, the news cycle has been relentless, careening from photos of flag-draped coffins to Abu Ghraib abuses to congressional hearings and back again. It seemed that the administration's sure-footedness had faltered and President Bush's supporters, some of them up for re-election themselves, began to look panicky. War was supposed to be easy and it wasn't. Why did we get ourselves into this?
Then Reagan died, and we heard him again: "Freedom is not the sole prerogative of a chosen few, but is the right of all G-d's children," he said while president. "We champion freedom because it is morally right and just." News anchors were reverent. Watching Americans filing by the coffin to pay respects, CNN's Anderson Cooper observed that the scene looked just the way Reagan had imagined his shining city on a hill would look: "Windswept, G-d blessed and teeming with people of all kinds."
And for one week, the campaigning stopped and we all got a breather, a chance to settle down and see where we are.
We got to see we've been deeply divided before and got through it. As we've looked at the fog of war in recent weeks, it's seemed that latter-day American wars have been hobbled by a lack of public support for fighting an enemy we had mixed feelings about. That was the case in Vietnam (see Hanoi Jane) but it was equally so in the Cold War, when many of Reagan's own peers in Hollywood happily joined with friends of socialism and communism.
The antidote to the intellectual mushiness then wasn't subtlety or coercion; it was clarity. Reagan's success and the endurance of his legacy are a reflection that Americans respond best to big ideas.
Bush's presidency, in this column's view, doesn't approach the sheer size of Ronald Reagan's in its vision, but it does share something else: existence in a time when one single issue dominates, when a clash of civilizations informs every other discussion. Reagan steered the country through the whirlpools of the Cold War arms race and Bush must do so with Islamic terrorism. Those are legacies, rain or shine.
John Kerry's decision to take a few days off the fund-raisers and campaign trail was appropriate, but it was also smart. The moment gives him a chance to switch gears at the perfect time — just far enough from the convention to perfect a new tone. When he spoke in Seattle last month, Kerry's ovations weren't for his plans and policies. The crowd only howled ferally when he said the word "Bush." Until now, it was Bush who has raised Democrats' pulses, not the droning senator from Massachusetts.
That will change. For the next few weeks at least, the magic word for leadership will be "optimism." The Bush campaign has already been running ads in swing states like Washington using the word, but it will be even more important to Kerry as the challenger. Reagan defeated a beleaguered incumbent with soaring imagery and hope. Kerry will be under pressure to modulate the bitter and resentful coterie at the Democrats' convention, knowing the GOP's in New York will be a warm glowing tribute to Ron.
The substance matters, too. Aside from our international policy, Kerry's campaign has been marked by a focus not on traditional class warfare, but on a new kind of middle-class entitlement, a sense that the necessities of a suburban lifestyle are rights, freeing us to spend our money on more frivolous pleasures. We shouldn't have to pay high prices for gas or for prescription drugs, which drain the disposable income available to buy ever-bigger palettes of digital TV and plenty of mochachinnos, the platform suggests.
That's a budgeting philosophy at odds with the Reagan policies that brought an economic boom through the '80s and '90s. His economic policy was as optimistic as his foreign policy, and sewn from the same beliefs about humanity — that we had the ability to do it ourselves if we could just be freed from the yoke of government. Stephen Moore, president of the Club for Growth, called him "arguably the most important economist of the 20th century."
As somebody who was 5 when Reagan took office, I belong to a generation that already has to make an effort to recall the despair and pessimism that preceded him. Had Reagan died in a quieter time, we surely would have known his value and honored him still. But we wouldn't have needed him nearly so much.
Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in Washington and in the media consider "must reading." Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.
JWR contributor Collin Levey is a weekly op-ed columnist at the Seattle Times. Before joining the Times in September 2003, she was an assistant editorial features editor for The Wall Street Journal. Comment by clicking here.
© 2004, Collin Levey
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