Posted on 06/12/2004 8:43:23 AM PDT by quidnunc
"It's so American," Margaret Thatcher is said to have remarked, watching from Bill Frist's Senate office as Ronald Reagan's casket was brought to the Capitol and 21 jets flew overhead in missing-man formation.
She's right. Serious nations have serious ritual, but each in its own way. From this last extraordinary week, the memorable images have been spare and simple — the overhead shot of the caisson in the Rotunda — or small and human: Nancy Reagan running her finger along the broad stripes of the flag-draped coffin. Two years ago in London, when Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother died, the memorable images were more elaborate and regal: the Prince of Wales and Her Majesty's three other grandsons standing vigil at the four corners of the catafalque as thousands of her former subjects silently trooped past to pay their last respects.
When Thatcher stood before President Reagan's coffin, by the way, she curtsied — which you're supposed to do only for kings and queens. In America, the king and prime minister are combined in one person, and the politer school of Reagan detractors these past two decades is happy to concede that, putting aside the ghastly policies of his administration, he did a swell job as King Ronnie — the nation's affable figurehead, the "amiable dunce" (in Clark Clifford's phrase) who woke up one day to find he'd inherited the throne.
-snip-
(Excerpt) Read more at suntimes.com ...
Also there was that moment at the sunset service where she bowed before the casket just as the last sliver of sun sank behind the mountain... almost providential.
BTTT
Steyn bump!!!!
"It's so American"
-- Baroness Margaret Thatcher.
Danged right, Lady Thatcher!
Travis, thank you for the cartoon. It is priceless!
It was so meaningful to see Margaret Thatcher at the funeral. I heard that she disobeyed doctor's orders in coming at all. Not called the "Iron Lady" for nothing.
No, hang on, I must be thinking of Professor J.K. Galbraith, who in 1984 was marveling at ''the great material progress'' of the USSR. In fairness to Galbraith, as the Associated Press would say, he has almost no schooling in economics, aside from being a Harvard economics professor for several decades.
I've found this to be one of the more humorous attempts at rewriting history by those on the Left.
This is also a time, which Steyn decribes without these words, when the people of America are ahead of their leaders. Especially where the comparison is with media "leaders," this is certainly true.
Congressman Billybob
Latest column, "Three Americans: Ronald Reagan, George Soros, Aurel deHollan."
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She curtsied, which is a reverence that it only given to royalty. Well, as Reagan would say, she was really reverencing America.
We need more writers like Mark to expose and filet the pompous media and academia "elite". They're usually wrong in their analysis and predictions about world events. What losers and gas bags!
We should adopt Margaret Thatcher as an honorary citizen of the USA. That fine and wonderful lady has class, brilliance and grace!!
She's right. Serious nations have serious ritual, but each in its own way. From this last extraordinary week, the memorable images have been spare and simple -- the overhead shot of the caisson in the Rotunda -- or small and human: Nancy Reagan running her finger along the broad stripes of the flag-draped coffin. Two years ago in London, when Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother died, the memorable images were more elaborate and regal: the Prince of Wales and Her Majesty's three other grandsons standing vigil at the four corners of the catafalque as thousands of her former subjects silently trooped past to pay their last respects.
When Thatcher stood before President Reagan's coffin, by the way, she curtsied -- which you're supposed to do only for kings and queens. In America, the king and prime minister are combined in one person, and the politer school of Reagan detractors these past two decades is happy to concede that, putting aside the ghastly policies of his administration, he did a swell job as King Ronnie -- the nation's affable figurehead, the ''amiable dunce'' (in Clark Clifford's phrase) who woke up one day to find he'd inherited the throne.
If anything is laid to rest with him at the end of this remarkable week, it ought to be the lazy condescension of the elites. That's all but indestructible, alas. Last Monday, the Washington Post and many other papers carried an Associated Press story by Adam Geller on Reagan's economic legacy which began, ''He had almost no schooling in economics...'' Actually, that's one of the few things he did have schooling in: In 1932, he earned a bachelor's degree in social science and economics from Eureka College. I guess a certificate from Eureka just doesn't impress these reporters the way Bush's Yale Business School diploma impresses them.
What is an ''intelligent'' person? As defined by the media, it seems to mean someone who takes the media seriously. Someone wonkish on the nuts and bolts of particular topics of interest to media types, and able to sit around yakking about them till 3 in the morning. Ronald Reagan had a much rarer intelligence -- a strategic intelligence. In 1977, he told Richard Allen, ''My theory of the Cold War is that we win and they lose.''
Cute. So few politicians talked like that a quarter-century ago that I'd have been content if it was just a neat line. But Reagan figured out a way to make it come true. Within 10 years. That's strategic thinking.
Those who disparage him say it would have happened anyway. It was obvious to all that the Soviet Union was on the verge of total collapse. After all, as big-time Ivy League history prof Arthur Schlesinger wrote in 1982, ''Those in the United States who think the Soviet Union is on the verge of economic and social collapse'' are ''wishful thinkers who are only kidding themselves.''
No, hang on, I must be thinking of Professor J.K. Galbraith, who in 1984 was marveling at ''the great material progress'' of the USSR. In fairness to Galbraith, as the Associated Press would say, he has almost no schooling in economics, aside from being a Harvard economics professor for several decades.
On CNN the other night, there was a featurette on all the changes in Ronald Reagan's long life: He was born in 1911, when Buffalo Bill was still alive, etc., etc.. Big deal. If you were born in 1980, that world has vanished, too. The arrogance of every age is the assumption of permanence. It's unusual to find a leader who thinks beyond that: ''smart'' in media politics means someone who can recite by heart every sub-clause of his plan on prescription-drug re-importation from Canada, not someone who looks a decade or two down the road and figures out the lie of the land. I want a leader who's giving some thought to big questions like, say, the increasing Islamification of Europe, and I don't care if he's from Eureka College or dropped out of Dixon High.
Ronald Reagan is beyond the Clark Cliffords and Arthur Schlesingers now. When it comes to his reputation as a great president, the people are way ahead. In that respect, if the citizens of this great republic will forgive a monarchical comparison, let me return to the passing of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother.
She was 102, so it wasn't exactly unexpected. The BBC and other broadcasters had long ago decided that most of the people who cared about the old girl were themselves long dead. So, come the day, they sloughed it off. Old woman, no big deal, all in the past. And then they spent the rest of the week trying to explain why they'd got it so wrong.
Outside the studios, over half a million people solemnly filed past her coffin as she lay in state at Westminster Hall, and a million lined the streets for her funeral, including some who'd flown in from Canada and other far-flung realms.
Something similar happened last week. Hundreds of thousands of Americans waited quietly in line in California and then in Washington to say goodbye to their president. Meanwhile, back on the air, the big networks struggled to find the tone. On the day itself, the assembled media grandees agreed that he was an amiable fellow with a big smile who told a good joke. If you'd tuned in 10 minutes late to ''Larry King Live,'' you'd have assumed he was doing one of his special tributes to some half-forgotten comic or TV host from the '50s that no one had very much to say about.
Back in the real world, the people waiting hours to get in to the Rotunda were there not just because Ronald Reagan was amiable but because they grasped that he was a significant figure in the life of this country and the world. Here too the events of two years ago are instructive: The Queen Mother was the last living representative of Britain's wartime leadership. She didn't win any battles, of course, but, advised to go to Canada, she instead stayed on in London, toured bombed-out streets in the East End, and took a direct hit at Buckingham Palace. To those on the streets of Westminster in 2002, she symbolized resolve and then victory in a great cause.
That's what this week's mourners understand about Reagan, too. He also symbolizes resolve and victory -- in a slyer, slipperier war, but one which he won just as decisively. Some saw it then. More see it now. One day even the network anchors and Ivy League professors will get it.
Only if they become homeless because no one watches their propaganda and are forced to beg for spare change for food will they "get it".
Another great article by Steyn. He makes an important point: the Big Media continue to define Reagan as an amiable joke-teller. But the thousands waiting in line were not there because Reagan was amiable.
They know what the intellectuals cannot know: Reagan was a tough cookie, a warrior who could charm his opponents. It's for this the mourners give thanks.
Surely there's a way to give her dual citizenship. It would be a real honor to bestow upon her and a way of thanking her for all she has done for this country and a way of recognizing all she has done for Britain.
They're the Northern California Bush hating types.
She looked at me with tears in her eyes and said "I'm so glad I got out of there. I can't believe how those people think."
I just leaned over, kissed her cheek and told her how glad I was she got out of there, too.
It was a beautiful service, well worthy of the man who freed millions from the yoke of communist slave-masters.
Thanks for the lovely cartoon Travis.
L
I do believe Congress passed a resolution on honorary citizenship for Winston Churchill. Lady Thatcher deserves it too.
BTTT
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