Reagan, Bush Contrasts Are as Telling as Parallels

[AmyStrange]

Reagan, Bush Contrasts Are as Telling as Parallels
Fri Jun 11, 4:03 PM ET
By Dan Balz, Washington Post Staff Writer

FROM: http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/washpost/a32847_2004jun10&e=3
The parallels are obvious for all to see: two conservative presidents who made tax cuts at home and muscular confrontation abroad the centerpieces of their administrations, westerners who sought to restrain the federal government but who had trouble taming the beast, men of faith who courted Christian conservatives, politicians who were often controversial and divisive in office.

But as President Bush (news - web sites) prepares to eulogize former president Ronald Reagan (news - web sites) at Washington National Cathedral today, the contrasts between the two men, their presidencies and the eras in which they governed are as telling as the parallels.

From their personalities to their relationship with Congress to the way the rest of the world viewed the United States under their leadership, Bush and Reagan offer divergent styles of leadership. If the most frequently used word to remember Reagan's political persona has been "optimistic," the word most offered by Bush's advisers and supporters in his first term is "resolute."

The president has resisted claiming the Reagan mantle this week -- " think of myself as a 'George W. Republican,' " Bush told NBC anchor Tom Brokaw over the weekend -- but in 2000 he patterned his campaign far more on the Reagan model than on that of his own father, former president George H.W. Bush.