Conversations with Reagan

Townhall.com ^ | July 9, 2014 | Donald Lambro

[Kaslin]

WASHINGTON - Barack Obama was named the worst president since World War II, according to a survey of the American people who were asked to rate the nation's chief executives over the past 69 years.

The Quinnipiac University Poll released last week found that one third of its respondents picked Obama as the all-time worst, ahead of George W. Bush in its disapproval.

Obama's unpopularity will come as no surprise to those who've been closely following his big spending presidency. But the really big news was the man who topped the best presidency list: Ronald Reagan. Reagan championed entrepreneurial capitalism, cut taxes, expanded free trade agreements and U.S. exports, promoted energy development, fought wasteful federal spending, beefed up our defense, began development of the anti-missile shield, ended a recession in two years, accelerated economic growth, fueled job creation and new business formation.

And he restored America's can-do spirit of optimism about the future. Obama has devoted his presidency to raising taxes, beating up big business, playing class warfare, growing the government, stalling trade deals, cutting defense, and prolonging a recession that remains stuck in a slow growth recovery and a declining labor force.

Over all of the presidencies I have covered in the past 40 years, I got to know Ronald Reagan best on a personal and professional level, from the campaign trail to the Oval Office.

We first met several times in Washington at his room in the Madison Hotel where we talked about politics, budgets and a wide assortment of other issues for an hour or so.

Reagan had completed two successful terms as the governor of the largest state in the union and had his eyes on the White House. Vice President Gerald Ford had just become president, after Richard Nixon resigned, and had began plotting his 1976 campaign for election in his own right.

[Kaslin]

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