Mourning

"It's mourning in America."

The past week has been an unselfconscious and extravagant (by stiff-upper-lip American standards) period of mourning in America.

President Reagan is dead. The sports announcer, actor, and late-term politician who defined American-ness for the last 20 years of the 20th century. Whatever you think of him as a politician and policy-maker, he was someone whose name will be writ large in the history books.

During the course of the week, I met Martin and Annelise Anderson. An excerpt from Mr. Anderson's Hoover Institution biography - he's a fellow - reads thus:

Director of research, Nixon presidential campaign, 1968; senior policy adviser, Reagan presidential campaigns, 1976, 1980; policy adviser, Wilson presidential campaign, 1995, Dole presidential campaign, 1996, Bush presidential campaign, 2000; delegate, Republican National Conventions, 1992, 1996, 2000. ... Coauthor of Reagan, In His Own Hand: The Writings of Ronald Reagan That Reveal His Revolutionary Vision for America (Free Press, 2001); coauthor of Reagan, In His Own Voice: Ronald Reagan's Radio Addresses (Simon & Schuster Audio, 2001); coauthor of Stories In His Own Hand: The Everyday Wisdom of Ronald Reagan (Free Press, 2001).

During the week of mourning, Anderson made the rounds of the talk shows and cable news networks. He's not so much an apologist for Reagan as he is a still spirited cheerleader. He doesn't seem to think there's anything to apologize for; perhaps, on the contrary, he believes Reagan has been too lustily underestimated, and his contributions too undervalued. On a personal note, Anderson is a nice guy. Generous, affable, upbeat. His wife is nice, too. Very down-to-Earth.

I also met Michael Boskin, who was the chairman of the Council of Economic Advisors for President Bush (pere). He was genuinely overwhelmed by the period of mourning - eyes rimmed red, voice a little uncertain. Another nice guy. Another unabashed fan of Reagan. While we were making small talk, Boskin said he was personal friends with both Bush and Kerrey, so he was in an odd position these days. In any case, it was funny to hear him make small talk with the other guests on the talk show. During commercial breaks, they'd ask about each other's lives, familes, and golf games. The other folks were Democrats, but obviously they were all friendly with each other. The very picture of the Loyal Opposition.

I am baffled by the comparisons between Bush and Reagan. They seem so superficial. "They both owned ranches. They both wore cowboy hats. They both cut taxes." Our current George Bush is no Ronald Reagan.

Is that a good thing?