Monday, March 24, 2008

The Speeches of Reagan (JM)

Ronald Reagan, pretty evil, terrible president, but amazing amazing communicator.



"General Secretary Gorbachev, tear down this wall!" is as good a line as any you'd see in a cheesy action movie. Sheer brilliance.



This is the more fearsome side of Reagan, the one who communicate with a unifying terribleness and ferocity. I'll post more specifically on this speech in the next few days.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

It takes some moxie to stand up there with "white collar," "smooth cheeks," and, presumably, "comfortable office in which (his) voice need not be raised" and use that as an imprecation against the evil other.

This sort of speech is the perfect antidote to a single enemy foisting a unitary poison, but has little effectiveness against a diffuse and sometimes even unidentifiable enemy. What cures the strike of the cobra won't heal the wound of the box jellyfish.

Too bad our cowboy leaders still think this is the right tone to take in the (post?) modern world.

This is an exemplary clip to cite since it illustrates the incipient thought of current leaders and the illusory future they still stagger toward.