Reagan

We have just seen the movie Reagan and I hope to set down a few brief thoughts about this powerful experience. For that is what it was, and a wonderful opportunity to remember the life and painful end of one of my small handful of life icons. First and foremost, I simply cannot urge too strongly that everyone who can get to this movie. Please do so as soon as possible. This message is especially aimed at those of us who are reaching up into the stratospheric levels of the aging process.

Jon Voigt should get the Best Supporting Actor award for his portrayal of a close advisor to several party secretaries of the USSR, ending with his time in the service of Mikhail Gorbachev. His role served as a narration vehicle for many of the critical moments that Reagan played such a prominent role in, especially the meeting in Reykavik in which Gorbachev demanded that Reagan abandon the “Star Wars” Defense System and Reagan’s response was a simple “Nyet!”

The entire production was la superbly produced return in time, showing some of the background leading up to events and moments many of us in the aforesaid age category have both read about and lived through. Although it should be no surprise to anyone, the moment in the Berlin Wall speech—surely one of the great speeches in the entire history of oratory—in which the president called on Gorbachev to “tear down this wall,” may have been the crowning highlight of the movie.

The actor who played Tip O’Neill, Dan Lauria, turned in a fantastic performance, reminding us that there was actually a time when members of both parties, including the members at the very pinnacle of those parties, could have a cordial, civil, professional and gentlemanly relationship, without the gutter behavior we now see marked by bitterness and endless vitriol.

It will also come as no surprise that the far-left media panned it with such elevated descriptions as “worst movie of the year,” supplying one of the key indicators we look for in picking one of those rare movies we watch every year. If the L.A. Times and other propaganda arms of the Democrat Party pan a movie like they did this one, we are headed straight to the theater! Other reports indicate many of our fellow Americans agree with us, as evidenced by the very high ratings of the actual Americans who have seen the movie as opposed to those who are paid to echo Democrat talking points.

For so many reasons, this movie really hit home with us:

We watched the Berlin Wall speech, as I know many of you did. It was a moment we will never forget.

We agonized over the Iran-Contra-Sandanistas scandal, when the president came perilously close to being impeached (sound familar?) due to being lied to by members of his staff. I felt deep sorrow when he did the most astonishing thing a politician could ever do—he told the absolute honest truth to the American people. Those days, it seems lately, may be gone forever.

We watched, over and over again, in utter disbelief, the video of the moment the president was shot at the Washington Hilton, and mourned what appeared to be his mortal wounds from that attack.

We mourned the news when he wrote his letter announcing he had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. We hurt for the agony we knew awaited him and the pain Nancy had ahead of her.

We had the inestimable good fortune of seeing him at an appearance on the LSU campus.

We see, every time I go out on the beach in my favorite and very worn and tattered Reagan For President t-shirt, the love and respect he gained from so many—including the young Americans who only know of him what they've read. They invariably shout words to the effect of, “Where is he when we need him” or, “Wish there was some way we could bring him back!”

We weep at the reality that there will never be another like him, with his trademark sunny optimism and unapologetic love for the nation he served for those historically positive eight years — “It’s morning in America!” “You and I have a rendezvous with destiny,” “Please tell me you're all Republicans,” “I've noticed that everybody that is for abortion has already been born.” The Great Communicator, indeed.

Since no one has ever come close to President Reagan when it comes to capturing beautiful thoughts in words, I will honor his memory by closing with another of his classics:

“Life is one grand, sweet song, so start the music.”

May he rest in eternal peace.