Reagan the Patriot, Meet Clinton and His Legacy

Bandleader Guy Lombardo once said that when he died he was going to take New Year’s Eve with him. Perhaps the same can be said about Ronald Reagan and patriotism.

When Reagan delivered his presidential farewell address to the nation in January 1989, he issued an Eisenhower-type warning about the future, which most Americans have by now forgotten. He cautioned that what he termed the “new patriotism” that swept the country in the 1980s would fade unless it was reinforced by constant reminders of America’s past and present greatness.

After almost eight years of Bill Clinton in the White House, the patriotism Reagan urged the country to protect has been diminished, in part, by the egotism of a self-glorifying president. While the Reagan presidency was all about America, the Clinton presidency has been all about Clinton. The Great Communicator kept America at center stage; the Great Self-Promoter has used America as the stage itself.

The kind of reinforcement of national pride that Reagan had in mind--he called it “reinstitutionalizing patriotism”--included extensive use of the presidential bully pulpit, a hallmark of his leadership from his inaugural address in 1981 to his last speech as president to a GOP national convention in 1988.

In that speech, referring to achievements during his two terms in office, he said, “Let us remember that tribute belongs to the 245 million citizens who make up the greatest and the first three words of our Constitution: ‘We the people.’ ” He continued, “It is the American people who endured the great challenges of lifting us from the depths of national calamity, renewing our mighty economic strength and leading the way to restoring our respect in the world. They’re an extraordinary breed we call Americans.”

It is difficult, no, impossible, to imagine such words pouring from the lips of Clinton, a man said to have thrown tantrums in private when he felt he was not being given enough credit for the economy. Expect the theme of his speech at next year’s Democratic National Convention to be along the lines of, “Look not at what Americans have done for their country, look at what I have done for Americans,” replete with self-serving passages about his triumphs, his suffering and hopes for his future.

One of the reasons I came to the U.S. from Canada in the early 1980s was to live in a country that wore its patriotism on its sleeve rather than keeping it buried deep within. With the Gipper back in the news again lately, I realize just how much I miss Reagan-era national pride, the good old lump-in-your-throat, tears-in-your-eyes, hair-standing-up-on-the-back-of-your-neck patriotism that was so thick in the air you could almost reach out and grab a fistful of it.

This is not to suggest that Reagan loved America more than Clinton does, but that Reagan wanted Americans to love their country and all it stands for more than Clinton does. Clinton wants Americans to love him, first and foremost. Also, he brought with him to the White House the typical liberal mind-set that overt displays of love for one’s country are embarrassing.

But Clinton isn’t the only culprit. The educational system has abandoned even the pretense that patriotism plays any role in American life. How can students who are not adequately taught about the American Revolution, George Washington or Abraham Lincoln appreciate why they have what they have and the importance of defending it? Reagan addressed this in that 1989 farewell speech, when he said educators “must do a better job of getting across that America is freedom--freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of enterprise--and that freedom is special and rare.” If those who forget history are condemned to repeat it, those who forget American history condemn the country to diminished patriotism. That is what we have today. A patriotism, as Reagan would put it, that is pastel rather than brightly colored.

Reagan continually reminded Americans that their daily heroics on Main Street were more important than roles played on Pennsylvania Avenue. It is to be hoped that the next White House occupant will put the spotlight back where it belongs, on the greatness of the people who built the country that Reagan saw as a shining city on a hill.