re: #161 HappyWarrior

Precisely. Really, it’s the idea of Reagan. The guy who nearly won all 50 states that they love not the actual man. The actual man was and I think would disappoint them even more today since they;ve grown more puritanical. What they don’t get though is when they try to emulate Reagan is that Reagan for all my faults with him was a guy who projected optimism. Their guys especially their current frontrunners Rand Paul especially comes to mind are negative whiners.

The other thing about Reagan is something I didn’t consider when he was President and I was in my 20s - he was 1) an actor, and 2) a former Union President. From the latter, he knew that you start a negotiation by asking for the Moon, then you bargain back from there. From the former, he knew how to make it seem like he was crazy enough to be serious about the starting position.

If I had to state one criticism of Obama, it’s that he approaches a negotiation like a rational person, stating a reasonable set of wants, rather than, for example, asking for Single Payer and ending up with Obamacare plus the Public Option.