{"id":65870,"date":"2018-02-06T11:00:25","date_gmt":"2018-02-06T17:00:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/?p=65870"},"modified":"2018-02-05T22:14:43","modified_gmt":"2018-02-06T04:14:43","slug":"the-shot-in-the-dark-national-holiday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/?p=65870","title":{"rendered":"The Shot In The Dark National Holiday"},"content":{"rendered":"

The jelly beans are out.\u00a0 The delivery and accent are in place.\u00a0 The “Reagan\/Bush ’84” sticker is in its place of honor on my car.<\/p>\n

It’s Ronald Reagan’s birthday today.<\/p>\n

The greatest president of my adult lifetime would be 107 today.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

But in these difficult times, after eight years of\u00a0a President who promoted \u00a0fear and malaise in the guise of \u201cchange\u201d and \u201cdoing something\u201d, and a year of a President who brings some of the same rah-rah, but little of the calm, confident reassurance that was Reagan’s hallmark, it\u2019s worth remembering Reagan\u2019s example; when times seemed at their most dire, Reagan walked onto the scene with a smile and a vision, and a backbone of steel, and cleaned up the mess lefty by his failed predecessor \u2013 something our current, and next, president will need even more of in the fiuture.<\/p>\n

And the most important part? He did it by unleashing something that many, then as now, thought was dead \u2013 the inner, optimistic, take-charge greatness of the American spirit.\u00a0 Triump shows some signs of doing the same; if he succeeds – and it’s still a big if, given the toxic political climate – then he’ll be a success.<\/p>\n

Oh, there are those who say “today’s GOP wouldn’t nominate Reagan!” – to which I respond with a contemptuous sign, before telling the critic to listen to “A Time for Choosing”, and tell me who is more resembles; Arne Carlson, or Scott Walker?<\/p>\n