Evoking Reagan

Barack Obama mentions Reagan and now everyone is writing about Reagan.

digby is annoyed in You Sir, Are No Ronald Reagan that he would mention Reagan without a disclaimer. "Because he won big in 1984, leaders in both parties accepted this omnipotent Reagan myth and have run against liberalism ever since --- and have ended up, through both commission and omission, advancing the destructive conservative policies that brought us to a place where we are debating things like torture. It would be helpful if ending the era of Democrats running against the liberal base could be part of this new progressive 'trajectory.'"

in Game Changing Strategy digby goes further to say: "If he wants to change the trajectory as Reagan did then he should take a page from his political strategy instead of his rhetoric, stop praising him and bury conservatism instead. "

digby then goes further in Message Guru, whining about using Republican rhetoric in the progressive plan to raise the payroll tax cap. "This is how the conservative movement wins even when it loses. If Democratic candidates will keep repeating their propaganda for them, they can just take a breather, infuse their movement with a much needed fix of victimization and martyrdom, count their money for a few years and then pick up right where they left off."

But aside from whining, Paul Krugman goes after some presumed facts on Reagan and Revenue. E.g., Reagan cut taxes but tax revenue increased 80% over his 8 years. While true in dollar terms, there are other (simple) facts to consider. "Is it really possible that all the triumphant declarations that the Reagan tax cuts led to a revenue boom — declarations that you see in highly respectable places — are based on nothing but a failure to make the most elementary corrections for inflation and population growth? Yes, it is."

Open Left goes after Reagan's Popularity. "Comparing his average approval ratings during his time in office to the average approval ratings of other Presidents during the era of public opinion polling indicates that no, he was not a particularly popular President." While his data shows Clinton, FDR, Johnson, Eisenhower and Kennedy all being more popular than Reagan, it also shows Bush senior being more popular than all but Kennedy and Eisenhower and I'm not so sure I believe that.