Posted by
Don White on Tuesday, June 17, 2008 12:00:00 AM
Reagan's Chief Trait
The following is taken from Utah Policy Daily. It was a column called Tuesday Buzz written by LaVarr Webb & Associates.
As
a young White House advance team member, Jon Huntsman, Jr., now governor of Utah, was able to
observe Pres. Ronald Reagan up close and personal. On Monday, Gov.
Huntsman reflected on his time spent working for Reagan in a speech
before the Ronald Reagan Club of the Republican Party.
No leader
is perfect, and Reagan wasn’t either, Huntsman said. Reagan received
much criticism because he wasn’t necessarily detail-oriented or a
policy wonk. But Reagan embodied certain leadership traits that allowed
the Reagan Revolution to succeed, Huntsman said.
He noted that
a president can buy tacticians; you can buy policy experts; you can buy
clever speech-writers. … But what you can’t buy is courage; you can’t
buy character; you can’t buy conviction, or vision or decency or
perseverance. Those character traits, plus a deep belief in individual
freedom and a focus on expanding the U.S. economy, allowed Reagan to
rebuild the military, which ultimately brought an end to the Cold War,
dissolution of the Soviet Union, and an expansion of freedom across the
world, Huntsman said. Today, we see Reagan’s greatness “through the
rear-view mirror of history.”Tuesday, June 17, 2008