But a closer look at what he said has me puzzled. Here, in part, is what Obama said:
He [Reagan] put us on a fundamentally different path because the country was ready for it. I think they felt like with all the excesses of the 1960s and 1970s and government had grown and grown but there wasn't much sense of accountability in terms of how it was operating. I think people, he just tapped into what people were already feeling, which was we want clarity we want optimism, we want a return to that sense of dynamism and entrepreneurship that had been missing.
Enough criticism has already been made of this mischaracterization of the Reagan message and the Reagan appeal, and this comment by Obama has caused a lot of concern among those of us who support him. Some have even tried to figure out if Obama is playing out some strategy that we just don't understand.
Whatever the reason he made this comment, I would like to see him clarify exactly what he meant and what he actually thinks of the Reagan legacy. I know that might cost him some votes in the general election among Reagan supporters who still accept the Reagan myth, and do not see the terrible damage he inflicted on the country, but Obama will never get to the general unless he satisfies members of his own party who see the Reagan legacy as absolutely disastrous.
