Deeper meaning to our grief (Great LTE About What We Are Really Mourning)

[Justice]

http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/letters/articles/2004/06/10/deeper_meaning_to_our_grief/

"After spending the last week seeing the images and reading the accounts of now old men who sacrificed their youth at Normandy for an enduring principle, the very essence of Americanism, the sad reality of America's current place in the world is just below the surface of our grieving countrymen. That within a mere 60 years the world has seen the courage and moral leadership of FDR, Eisenhower, Kennedy, and, yes, Reagan, wither to the level of a George W. Bush is a stunning and embarrassing realization.

There is much to mourn in America today, but it has little to do with Ronald Reagan."
_____________

This LTE really stopped me cold. It captures exactly the way I've been feeling - as I've watched old footage of Reagan and the 80's - as bad as Reagan was, you can't help but think, simpler times. The Cold War almost sounds manageable, in that at least you had the sense that Russia would not be stupid enough to engage in mutual alienation.

I heard some news guy last night express something in the same vein when he talked about Reagan and the ceremony and the fact that we are being taken back to another time - yet with the evacution order in the Capitol we were instantly brought back to the present. Seeing Nancy stroke the coffin -- she is still living in the 80's - you watch her and you are almost brought back to that time. Then you read the scroll across the bottom of the TV screen and see that 6 European soldiers were killed in Iraq and you are jolted back to today.

[Justice]

1. Mid-Morning Kick

I think this LTE precisely captures what is really happening this week.

[calimary]

2. Truly.They're all looking at a study in contrasts this week.

Everybody is. Around the world. This couldn't have happened at a worse time for bush. He DOES. NOT. FIT. REAGAN'S. SHOES. He DOES. NOT. MEASURE. UP. And every single one of these retrospectives and clips of Reagan speaking and stuff just underscore that - HOW FAR WE'VE FALLEN. It's a painful reminder of the days when America really did stand taller in the world - well, a much larger part of the world than now. As many problems as we had then, we have more now, and they're far worse. bush makes Reagan look like a moderate. Plus, he was able to get business done with the Europeans. They liked him. Reagan, at least, knew how to get along pleasantly with people. Reagan fans in this country cannot escape this. THAT is what they're mourning. Reagan's death is symbolic. It's a metaphor - not only for what used to be, but what clearly and emphatically ISN'T, any longer.

And especially on D-Day weekend. When they run clips of Reagan in Europe and Reagan speaking at the cemeteries, and Reagan doing the pomp and circumstance in that seasoned, Hollywood-staged, Busby Berkeley way he had, and THEN we cut to the present, and bush's version of it, all you see is some snotnosed kid foolishly trying to stumble around in his daddy's big shoes. And falling frequently. People are picking up on this viscerally, I suspect. It is an unavoidable conclusion you reach, when you compare and contrast NOW, versus THEN. I strongly suspect that more than a few folks are looking at all this, shaking their heads, and muttering "so it's come to THIS?" Followed by "Dear God, how far we've fallen!"

I mean, SHOOT! I just re-read that Letter to the Editor, and this line stood out like gangbusters:

"There is much to mourn in America today, but it has little to do with Ronald Reagan."

And this:

"...within a mere 60 years the world has seen the courage and moral leadership of FDR, Eisenhower, Kennedy, and, yes, Reagan, wither to the level of a George W. Bush is a stunning and embarrassing realization."

Stunning use of the word "WITHER". What a great word to describe all this! "...wither to the level of a george w. bush..."

OUCH!

People out there GET IT. Bad for bush. GREAT for ALL the rest of us, including a guy named Kerry.