Elizabeth Drew, WAPO: "Nostalgia for Nixon?"

[Hand]

Elizabeth Drew debunks the emerging Nixon-was-okay myth.

Anger and frustration with the president have produced an unusual turn of late. Numerous people have been moved to remark, "I'm beginning to miss Nixon," or, "I wish we could have Nixon back" -- this usually followed by, "He was so progressive on domestic policy."

The nostalgists rightly see Richard Nixon as having been far more intelligent and thoughtful than George W. Bush; Nixon was indeed very smart, though no intellectual. Actually, he hated intellectuals, among others, including Jews, political opponents and those born to privilege. Nixon lacked the exceptional curiosity of Bill Clinton, but he had an understanding of the world that can only be longed for today...

...Yet perhaps his most lasting domestic legacy has been the effects of his "Southern strategy," appealing to Southerners and blue-collar workers who opposed advancement for blacks. His administration enforced civil rights laws only so far as the courts ordered (so that the courts could be blamed). He turned the party of Lincoln into the party that exploited racism.

So, despite the now-fashionable nostalgia, Nixon's pragmatism, his lack of core beliefs and his opportunism throughout his political lifetime offer little reason to doubt that he would be right in step with the conservative Republican politics of today.

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[UrbScotty]

1. Compared to Bush, Nixon was a saint! (nt)

[kurth]

2. The crook was positively amateurish compared to the murderous asshole we have

Pathetic.

[lutefisk]

3. When Cheney was in the Nixon White House, he was too young

He was too young to do the damage he's done from his secret cave of power in the Bush White House. Back in the Nixon White House, Dick was just laying the groundwork for the crap he's doing now.