The battle is now over for Ronald Reagan. His passing is bittersweet for me. On one hand, he is finally at peace. On the other hand, I will miss him. Many people wrote him off as dead ten years ago. Those people didn’t give him credit that he had one last battle to fight.
Though my first vote for president was for Bob Dole, I came of political age during Reagan’s presidency. I was six years old during the 1980 elections. I remember learning about President Carter at school (from the venerable Weekly Reader newspaper), but when I asked my parents if they were voting for Carter, they said no. There was a better man for the job, they told me.
In the early 1980s, when the Russians were out to get us, Ronald Reagan brought great comfort to me. I remember watching Rich Little do impersonations of Reagan and I decided to develop an impersonation of my own. I came up with dozens of routines where I, as Reagan would say “Well, Nancy..” and then make some remark about the current Soviet premier, whovever it was that month.
Every time he spoke it gave me chills. Watching a Dateline special tonight with replays of his speeches, I got those chills again. Ronald Wilson Reagan was a president with conviction. He held his beliefs strongly, and he acted upon them. He scared the Soviet Union out of existence. He stood his ground, and won the fight. May his influence not pass with him.