Is Reagan being overated as President?

Question

The current batch of Repub presidential hopefulls are all babbling about-I am gonna be like Reagan-the man had plenty of faults-this is a different day and age-why can't the Repubs just stand on their own.

Answer 1

Terribly overrated. Reaganomics created more homeless people than the US had ever seen, mainly mothers and their children who were reduced to living in their cars. He was completely oblivious to the negative impact his form of Government imposed on the middle class, as are his admirers. Not to mention his "war on drugs" which served only to overpopulate our prison system with first time drug offenders, people who should have been rehabilitated, not imprisoned. Then there is the Iran Contra fiasco. The creation and funding of Alqaeda, the list goes on and on.

Answer 2

Long story short.. no Reagan is not over-rated, in fact he's one of the greatest president's we have had to date (definitely in top 10, probably in top 5). And the republicans are brining him up because Americans want another president like Ronald Reagan, including myself. I dont see any of the current candidates living up to that though.

Answer 3

Reagan to me was just an B-actor playing the role of a president. Total lack of compassion except for the rich and powerful. Tried to claim ketchup ad vegetable? Spent billions on his hoax of Star Wars, cared little for the environment. Sold weapons to Iran, made Oliver North a hero. Did little do deal with issue of AIDS. Just what the GOP needs to honor Reagan and move back to the 18th century.

Answer 4

I agree with what you say about the candidates needing to stand on their own histories and not that of a dead President. That said though, Reagan was a great President because he did something no other post WW2 President was able to do - he made the US feel good about itself. And, together with the work done by Pope John Paul, he brought about the end of the Cold War. Check out his Wiki page if you want the history.

Answer 5

Best Republican president ever was Lincoln.

Reagan could sell snow to an eskimo - and he
really did a snow job on the American people.

He is credited with ending the Cold war. In
reality, the Soviets ran out of money. That is,
every president who had kept a strong
national defense up to that point was just as
responsible for ending it. Indeed Gorby
deserves the lions share of ending communism
with relatively little bloodshed.

He left a HUGE deficit.

During his tenure, the stock market went like
gang busters, but the actual earnings for people
not in the stock market went DOWN. That is,
the rich got richer and the poor got poorer.

He got rid of the board established to transition
the US to using metric.

His concept of "trickle down" has become
common place Republican parliance, but
the economy from then on until now refutes
the concept. "A rising tide does indeed raise
all boats. If you're not in a boat, you drown."

He was a nice guy, charming as hell, and
never should have been in the Presidency.
The fact that he was diagnosed with
alzheimers shortly thereafter protected him
from the lions share of recriminations thereafter.

That is, when he said he "forgot" about the
Iran-Contra affair ... well, me might not be lying.
I am not comforted that he would forget such
a thing.

Up until he was diagnosed, he was frequently
referred to as the "Teflon President" because all
of the things that went wrong during his Presidency
all ended up being associated with other people.
For instance, people remember Oliver North from
Iran Contra and not that he was acting at the behest
of the White House.

Reagan was a charming guy, great sense of humor
(you can get a taste of that reading his diaries). I
would love to have known him.

However...

He was a so-so actor and a lousy President.

Answer 6

I don't think so. Go on line and look at how historical experts rank the Presidents. You will find Reagan's name in virtually every experts top 10 list. He was without a doubt, the greatest President of the 2nd half of the 20th century.

Answer 7

Reagan is over-rated as President, no question about it.
BUT he is apparently NOT over-rated to the GOP... Personally, I wish that the GOP would move back to the Goldwater type of Republican... fiscally responsible, socially moderate, and NOT interested in the fundamental religious right... Unfortunately, Republicans today equate Reagan to Jesus Christ and will not admit to any fallacies in his administration... those kind of people scare me.

Answer 8

N O, President Ronald W. Reagan won the Cold War without firing a shot and destroyed communism and
the Soviet Union!!!

Answer 9

Yeah. It isn't as if he was a terrible or even poor president, but he's not one of the greats, much less THE greatest.

Reagan is the Conservative version of JFK, his whole presidency wrapped up in a rose-colored patina against which other potential presidents are judged. Neither one, imo, deserves it. But that isn't the point.

Answer 10

I believe that they DO stand on their own. They're just honoring President Reagan and paying him the respect he's due. Yes, of course he had faults...he was human! But, overall he was a great President. Sure, times have changed but that does not diminish his achievements. Presidents Washington, Roosevelt, Kennedy, to name a few, lived in a different age but it doesn't diminish their achievements either!