Steve Forbes: What Reagan Taught Us and Obama Needs to Learn

What Reagan Taught Us and Obama Needs to Learn

By Steve Forbes

Published February 04, 2011 | FoxNews.com

On Feb. 6 the nation will mark the 100th anniversary of the birth of Ronald Reagan, who is now recognized even by liberal historians, as one of our nation's great presidents. The current incumbent, Barack Obama, deeply respects Reagan for his extraordinary achievements. Obama's goals, of course, are the antithesis of Reagan's, but he recognizes how transformational Reagan's record was.

It is not just Reagan's specific achievements, though, that inspire people today, that leave so many of us yearning for his brand of leadership. It is also his profound faith in the essential goodness of the American people and in the exceptional role the U.S. has been destined by the Almighty to play in the world. Reagan was a master of the stage. But the Great Communicator's power came from deeply held convictions, not from superficial eloquence. Reagan's words represented his core. There was no slight-of-hand in his speeches; he didn't use liberal language to disguise or hide his agenda.

People, young and old, feel that Reagan had an optimistic understanding of what this nation could achieve and a deeply felt gratitude for so much of what we had done before. Like our Founders, RR knew well the underside of human nature; his father was an alcoholic, which scarred his childhood enormously. But Reagan also knew that a society whose institutions, culture and aspirations were designed to bring out our best instincts, while checking our worst, could achieve what no other society had done before in creating opportunities for innovators and allowing all of us, as Abraham Lincoln would have put it, to improve our lot in life.

Reagan's presidential achievements bore out his optimism. He knew that if the federal government did its part to provide a more stable dollar and reduce the burden of excessive taxation and regulation, combined with a strong, purposeful foreign policy, the United States would soar ahead - and the rest of the world would follow.