RONALD REAGAN: AMERICA’S ANCHORMAN : ‘Even when he makes a terrible joke or speaks a sentence that has no beginning and end, he seems like a “nice” person.’

“My fellow Americans. . .” It’s now evident from President Ronald Reagan’s TV appearances that he has expanded and redefined the presidency. He has assumed a role that transcends the White House, the Oval Office and party politics. He has donned a mantle more awesome than any other.

He has become America’s anchorman.

Bigger than Peter Jennings, Tom Brokaw and Dan Rather, Reagan now dwarfs even Walter Cronkite, once the nation’s most trusted human via his longtime presence on the “The CBS Evening News.”

There Reagan was early Monday evening, beloved and believed, family pictures at his rear, hands resting comfortably on his polished desk while telling the TV camera that 33 U.S. warplanes had just bombed Libya in retaliation for the terrorism of Moammar Kadafi.

“He counted on America to be passive,” Reagan said near the end of his short address to the nation. “He counted wrong.”

Reagan was giving America the news, his news. Moreover, he didn’t have to add, as Cronkite always did: “And that’s the way it is.” In a credibility contest, Reagan could put all three network anchormen out of business quicker than you can say A.C. Nielsen.

Reading his speech from a TelePrompTer, Reagan was magnificent, showing again his wondrous way with TV. It remained to be seen whether Monday’s U.S. attack would diminish Kadafi. In terms of domestic public opinion, though, the President’s Rambo ramble seemed to have paid off gorgeously.

Low self-esteem has never been a problem for the United States, which is as ethnocentric as any nation in history. Yet, after being repeatedly clobbered by terrorists, the nation was seeking to end its frustrations and clearly felt better about itself Tuesday after the bombing of Libya.

The C-SPAN cable network took call-ins Tuesday morning. Most agreed that the President had done “the right thing” in unleashing U.S. warplanes.

“Next time we ought to turn Libya into a parking lot,” said one caller. “The Libyans didn’t care about our innocent people, why should we care about theirs?” asked another.

“I’m proud to be an American,” a man announced. “Good morning, this is New Orleans,” a woman said. “I think President Reagan is marvelous.”

At the very least, Reagan is a phenomenon.

Put Richard Nixon or Gerald Ford or Jimmy Carter behind that same desk Monday, in front of the same camera, speaking to America under the same set of conditions, and public reaction probably would be different.

Even given the terrorist adventurism and barbarity of Kadafi, the reaction would be different. In light of the condemnation of our Libyan attack by most of our European allies, the damage to friendly embassies in Tripoli from U.S. bombs and the hitting of innocent civilians, including children, the reaction would be different. If either Ford or Carter had talked on TV about a “surgical” bombing, surely a contradiction in terms, he would have been hooted or attacked.

Another episode of Reagan the Great Communicator?

Not communicator, but expressor , argues Joshua Meyrowitz in “No Sense of Place,” his book about the electronic media’s impact.

Rather than communicate ideas, Reagan projects images and moods, much like TV itself. “Even when dodging a reporter’s question, he often humbly cocks his head, smiles and waves,” Meyrowitz notes. “Even when he makes a terrible joke or speaks a sentence that has no beginning, middle and end, he seems like a ‘nice’ person.”

Reagan’s communications, Meyrowitz adds, “are often mundane, sometimes incomprehensible, but they are frequently salvaged by a voice that chokes with emotion or by eyes that fill with tears or by a playful grin--all perfectly timed and coordinated.”

Meanwhile, shortly before 11 Tuesday morning, all three networks hit the air almost simultaneously with brief reports of new heavy anti-aircraft fire in Tripoli followed by distant “thumps.”

“Now, sudden quiet, and we don’t know how long it will last,” said ABC’s Charles Glass by phone from the Tripoli hotel where American media were headquartered, their actions restricted by Libyan officials. From the same hotel, Steve Delaney and Allen Pizzey gave similar phone accounts for NBC and CBS, respectively.

Next came the return of Reagan, as the networks telecast the opening remarks of his speech to a business group at the Executive Office Building. “Yesterday, we demonstrated again that doing nothing is not America’s policy,” he said.

Ronald Reagan’s news at 11.