Reagan’s Still Tough; Now, Let Him Lead

With his State of the Union Address, did President Reagan put the Iran affair behind him? No. Did he do what he had to do to start putting his presidency back together again? Yes. Does he still have a tough road ahead as he continues to fight his way back? Yes.

It was never in the cards that this, or any other single speech, would by itself restore the President’s diminished authority. The damage has been too great for that. However, the speech did demonstrate once again that Ronald Reagan still has the power to reach out across the land, into the living rooms of America, and touch the mystic cords that summon our national pride and spirit.

Those who are now scheming to do him in should think twice before writing him off. He has been a formidable political adversary before. He showed Tuesday night that he can be a formidable political adversary again. And, although his voice weakened toward the end, for a trouper still recuperating from major surgery it was a masterful performance.

But the instant reactions to the speech were in effect a declaration of political war. The coldly, perhaps at times even rudely, partisan reception that he got from the Democratic side of the aisle promises tough and perhaps even ugly battles ahead on Capitol Hill.

From the start the President’s more partisan adversaries have exploited Iran to the hilt in a calculated effort to cripple him politically. The Democratic congressmen whose stony silence was punctuated only by jeers were clearly lying in wait. And the chorus of mocking comments afterward suggested the mood of hunters on the trail of a wounded prey.

On substance, the speech demonstrated that Reagan is still Reagan. He still believes in a strong defense, aid to the anti-communists in Nicaragua, the Strategic Defense Initiative and balancing the budget by spending less rather than by taxing more. No surprises there, and none should have been expected.

But it was, of course, the brief passage about Iran that the President-watchers, both friendly and hostile, were waiting for. What he offered satisfied neither the flagellants shouting for an apology nor the more serious critics concerned with the applications of its lessons to future policy.

The flagellants would never have been satisfied; what they want is for the President to grovel so that they can better rub his nose in the dirt. Any President who did so would cease that minute to be an effective leader. That’s why they want him to do it.

What was missing from the standpoint of the more serious critics was a clear sense of where we go from here. For the President to put Iran behind him, he has to show that it is behind--that a repaired policy process won’t produce another Iran. It’s not enough to declare, as he did a couple of paragraphs later, that the United States will not “yield to terrorist blackmail.” That was, after all, our firmly stated policy even while the arms bazaar was being run.

But, from the standpoint of the national interest, whether or not he ever says anything satisfying about Iran matters far less than how quickly, and with how little lasting damage, the issue can be put behind both the President and the nation. Past mistakes do a lot less harm than present paralysis does. It’s the obsession with Iran that creates the paralysis. “In debating the past,” as the President put it, “we must not deny ourselves the successes of the future.”

What keeps the obsession alive is the spirit of the chase, and the sense that the biggest “big game” of all--the President--is vulnerable. The Iran affair will cease to be an obsession when it becomes clear that it will not claim the Reagan presidency as a casualty. To put Iran behind him, Reagan has to show that he can survive it.

His State of the Union performance was a first step. Another useful step would be a clear account not of mistakes made but of lessons learned from Iran. And then, when the President’s recuperation from surgery is complete, he should take to the hustings and carry his own non-Iran agenda forcefully to the American people. To restore his leadership, Reagan will have to get out front and lead.