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Reagan died on a Saturday afternoon. He was buried the following Friday at sunset. Seven full days of nonstop "Remembering Ronnie" on the news channels.
By contrast, John F. Kennedy, a young vibrant President blessed with a beautiful and even younger wife who gave their marriage two children, had captured the imagination of the entire world when his head was shattered by a series of bullets in Dallas, Texas. The shots were fired at 12:30 p.m. on a Friday afternoon. By 12:30 p.m. on Monday the state funeral was over and life attempted to straggle forward. In those intervening 72 hours between the carnage in Dallas and the lighting of the eternal flame in Arlington National Cemetery, the nation had been through denial, shock and had even witnessed the televised murder of Kennedy's alleged assassin. All of that and still only 72 hours from death to burial.
Ronald W. Reagan had been out of public view for the last 10 years because of Alzheimer's disease. For the last few years it was suggested he was totally unaware of life around him. He was 93. His death should have been no shock to anyone.
Ronald Reagan was, I am told, a regular guy. You may have disagreed with his politics but you could picture yourself having a beer in some tavern with Ronnie as he regaled you with his stories. That's great, but as a president he wasn't nearly in the league of those chiseled into Mt. Rushmore, nor did he lead us through a depression and a world war as did FDR, whose profile he would replace on the dime. (FDR was connected to the dime through his involvement with the March of Dimes and to her credit, Nancy Reagan is opposed to replacing Roosevelt's image on the dime)
Before we go renaming and remaking everything in the image of Ronald Reagan, let's pause and reflect on the real accomplishments and failures of the man. He was, after all, just a mortal man, complete with flaws. Rather than remaking our currency in remembrance of Reagan, wouldn't it be more fitting for our federal government to allow the use of stem cells in disease research so that some day, a host of illnesses, such as Alzheimer's that struck Reagan, could be eradicated from our collective memory?
C'mon, Mr. Bush, rescind your stem cell decision and let's win this one for The Gipper.
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