Monday, June 14, 2004 | 8:39 a.m.
The outpouring of media love for Ronald Reagan leads me to wonder what makes a president popular and if that is a good thing. Popular presidents have had optimism, a sense of vision, communication skills and a sense of humor. But the TV age has created a need for a larger-than-life myth. JFK, whose "Camelot" myth made him one of the most popular presidents, once said, "The more you screw up this job the more popular you get." The Reagan movie myth of being "The Gipper" certainly helped his mythology to the point where what he did as president is considered unimportant.
In his article, "Planet Reagan," William Rivers Pitt, an author and senior editor of truthout.org, points out that most of the problems we have today, including Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden, came from Reagan's policies. Reagan would not fund AIDS research because it was a "gay disease." Reagan supported South Africa's apartheid. One of his worst policies was the deregulation of everything, which created the corporate ownership of the media.
Now the news we see and hear is controlled by the same corporations that profit from the wars we fight. I do not mean to speak ill of the dead, but in a democratic republic, the true effects of the Reagan policies should not go down the memory hole just to satisfy the self-serving media needs for mythology over truth.
JERRY BITTS
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