EDITOR'S NOTE
THE AMERICAN spEcTATon Steadiness HEN BOB BARTLEY, now Senior Editorial Advisor, Al Regnery, now Publisher, and I sat down a year ago to discuss the editorial thrust of the revitalized...
...Certainly he deserves the historians' upgrade to the highest tier in presidential ratings...
...Yet taking one thing with another this President bears a handsome likeness to the Gipper...
...The President's decisions are probably sound...
...Wars are messy...
...Now they are being repressed in their lairs...
...But terrorists were killing Americans...
...Wars with maniacs are even messier...
...He noted that over the years while he was editor of the Wall Street Journal and I was editor of this respected intellectual review (a review read by every college president in America and by many faculty members despite the danger to their health) one of the emergent policies was our general support of conservative presidents...
...Our policies in the Middle East have no sensible alternative...
...Growing numbers of Americans are 4 THE AMERICAN SPECTATOR DECEMBER 2003/JANUARY 2004 burning incense to Ronald Reagan...
...We feared he shunned the conservative movement that had nurtured his political career...
...Yet remember there were times in the 1980s when we thought he had gone wobbly...
...Steadiness by GWB is the prudent course...
...He deserves our support...
...We generally supported Ronald Reagan and Bob said we should generally support his ideological progeny, George W. As the soi-disant intelligentsia's criticism of GWB heats up, Bartley's reminder rings true...
...Possibly we exaggerated the prevalence of WMDs...
...They were growing bolder...
...His strategic initiatives are probably working...
...RET...
...We worried about some of his appointments...
...The Gipper's judgment was usually right...
...We should have kept Iraqi arms from falling into hostile hands...
...Of course, he is not right on everything...
...Reaganites should stand with him...
...His economic program is working...
...On most things the President is probably right...
...THE AMERICAN spEcTATon Steadiness HEN BOB BARTLEY, now Senior Editorial Advisor, Al Regnery, now Publisher, and I sat down a year ago to discuss the editorial thrust of the revitalized AmSpec, Bob made another of his irrefragable observations...
...Yet our military is executing brilliantly...
...We feared he was going to cave to the Soviets...
...The conservative critics faulting him on trade and government growth make a good case...
...Right now, though GWB is attracting doubters, Bartley's recommendation is timely...
...Usually we were wrong...
Vol. 36 • December 2003 • No. 7
