Every conservative looks to the Reagan Era as conservativism in its full flower. For many of us, the Reagan Era is our version of Kennedy’s Camelot. In fact, I would argue that Newt got into more trouble last week over his relationship to Reagan than he has for all of the accusations of his peccadilloes. We are Republicans, and thou shalt not mess with Reagan.
And so in the back of our minds, we are looking at the collection of candidates and trying to gauge which will be the most like Reagan
Now let's be clear: as a liberal I mocked and despised Reagan. As a conservative I learned to appreciate and respect Reagan. But fellow believers, Reagan is dead and he will not be returning from Avalon. And even if he were still with us, he served two terms and couldn’t run, anyway.
The country and the world have changed since the 1980’s, and even if the changes were not as drastic as they are, the simple fact remains that Reagan has assumed a status in the GOP mythology that cannot be replicated or even approached.
No candidate will be the next Reagan, and we should stop looking for his face in theirs. Instead, we should wrest the discussion from the media and the Super Pacs, and let the candidates know what we expect from them. We should drive the issues and we must drive the nomination.