Today is February 6th, 2014. Today would have been Ronald Reagan’s 103rd birthday. As conservatives we frequently look back on President Reagan’s terms in office, reflect on his time as a source of inspiration for the future as much as nostalgia for the past. So much so that liberals love to mock us for it. But anyone, even a leftie, should take a minute to go back through and listen to some of Reagan’s great speeches, look over some of his greatest moments. You cannot but wish for such leadership again in Washington. Wish for and lament the seeming hopeless of that wish.
In the above clip, he is speaking for the final time from the Oval Office. It is a testament to the power of the man’s legacy that his farewell still rings more positive, more uplifting, more full of hope, than even the soaring campaign and incoming speeches of presidents since. Yes, even the great Si Se Puede himself falls far short. Reagan shows us how to be optimistic rather than pessimistic, without being saccharine or pandering. Something a great many people would do well to learn these days.
Today is not just Ronald Reagan’s birthday. It is a birthday of sorts for the Republican Party. It is a time to remember how a great man stepped into the spot history had reserved for him and led us all to something better, something more. Led us to aspire to something bigger than ourselves. That dream of America that drove and guided us from a few colonies to the great shining city upon a hill.
Yes conservatives and Republicans will long remember and honor Ronald Reagan. Unashamedly. Unabashedly. And with a sense of melancholy. We wait for the next Ronald Reagan, even as we fear he will never come again.
Happy Birthday, Mr. President. You are sorely missed.