After a warning this morning that "the end was soon," word came tonight that Ronald Reagan has died.
Reagan was, in many ways, my "first" president, in that I started paying attention to politics around the time he was elected (I had been aware of Carter, Ford, and Nixon, but as events-happening-on-tv, not in any way that impacted me). His presidency was when I came awake, you could say. I didn't agree with the man on many if not all of his policies, but you can't hate a man who feeds foreign dignitaries jelly beans. And nobody but nobody should have to go through (or have their family go through) what the past ten years were like for him (and Nancy). Having gone through it in my own family, I can say with absolute certainty that it's a curse on everyone. And so not so much sadness at his passing after a long and interesting life, as a sense of relief that the agony is over. RiP, Ronnie.
Reagan was, in many ways, my "first" president, in that I started paying attention to politics around the time he was elected (I had been aware of Carter, Ford, and Nixon, but as events-happening-on-tv, not in any way that impacted me). His presidency was when I came awake, you could say. I didn't agree with the man on many if not all of his policies, but you can't hate a man who feeds foreign dignitaries jelly beans. And nobody but nobody should have to go through (or have their family go through) what the past ten years were like for him (and Nancy). Having gone through it in my own family, I can say with absolute certainty that it's a curse on everyone. And so not so much sadness at his passing after a long and interesting life, as a sense of relief that the agony is over. RiP, Ronnie.
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Date: 2004-06-06 06:33 am (UTC)