Going Bananas

Peter Robinson is a fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. A generation ago - the guy was barely out of college - he wrote speeches for President Ronald Reagan. One of those speeches contained the line,"Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall." Reagan's advisors though the line a bit harsh and urged him to delete it or at least use some less threatening language. Reagan ignored them and, on that summer day in Berlin in 1987, delivered the simple line that would define his foreign policy in history and hasten the end of the Soviet Union. It also gave Robinson quite a career boost.

The man behind those famous words has an enlightening column at Forbes.com this week where he describes personality, nationalization and censorship as disturbing trends within the Obama administration. In short, he wonders if we are on the road to becoming a banana republic. It's "must read."

As an aside, let me point out one of Robinson's books, How Ronald Reagan Changed My Life (2003). It's well-written, fast-paced, full of powerful observations and wonderful anecdotes about Reagan as well as a window into the reality of working in the White House. You'll most likely enjoy reading it and you'll get some insight into Robinson, a man whose career bears watching.

Speaking of watching, one of my greatest regrets was not being able to follow the Reagan presidency as it happened. From early 1981 until he left office in 1989, my wife and I were producing and raising children, including one set of twins. From what I know of Reagan, he would have enjoyed our stories and made some entertaining jokes about them. But life for us at the time was no joke; I worked full-time at the office and at home. As full-time parents, we simply couldn't carve out the hours to fully appreciate Reagan in action. Of course, a generation of aging does add valuable perspectives to any history, but nothing could replace the joie de vivre of the here and now. We can, however, come as close as possible to the way things were through the sensitive observations of writers like Peter Robinson. Too bad all our information sources aren't like that.

Thanks to Power Line - and you can read more on the subject.