President Obama was elected primarily on his exceptional oratory skills. President Reagan was called the great communicator.
In addition to the quote in yesterday’s blog that Reagan made when announcing his candidacy for president, he was probably best know for” Mr. Gorbachev, tear down that wall. ”
Reagan’s speeches were inspirational. Clear and crisp, they made us all think and understand what he was doing. Here are a few of his quotes his first three years in office.
- Thomas Jefferson made a comment about the Presidency and age. He said that one should not worry about one’s exact chronological age in reference to his ability to perform one’s task. And ever since he told me that, I stopped worrying.
- Remarks at the Annual Salute to Congress Dinner, (4 February 1981)
- Intelligence reports say he — Castro — is very worried about me. I’m very worried that we can’t come up with something to justify his worrying.
- White House diary, (11 February 1981) (Source: BBC)
- Honey, I forgot to duck.
- To his wife, Nancy, while in hospital shortly after he was shot in an assassination attempt (30 March 1981). Reagan is believed to have been quoting the words of boxer Jack Dempsey to his wife after he lost to Gene Tunney in 1926. [1]
- I hope you’re all Republican.
- Speaking to surgeons as he entered the operating room following a 1981 assassination attempt.[2] To which Dr. Joseph Giordano replied, “We’re all Republicans today.” An alternative version has Reagan saying “Please tell me you’re Republicans.” (30 March 1981)
- This is not the time for political fun and games. This is the time for a new beginning. I ask you now to put aside any feelings of frustration or helplessness about our political institutions and join me in this dramatic but responsible plan to reduce the enormous burden of Federal taxation on you and your family.
- The size of the Federal budget is not an appropriate barometer of social conscience or charitable concern.
- Every country and every people has a stake in the Afghan resistance, for the freedom fighters of Afghanistan are defending principles of independence and freedom that form the basis of global security and stability.
- Referring to groups who who were resisting Soviet rule of Afghanistan, with U.S. support, in Proclamation 4908 — Afghanistan Day (10 March 1982)
- From Stettin on the Baltic to Varna on the Black Sea, the regimes planted by totalitarianism have had more than thirty years to establish their legitimacy. But none — not one regime — has yet been able to risk free elections. Regimes planted by bayonets do not take root….If history teaches anything, it teaches self-delusion in the face of unpleasant facts is folly….Our military strength is a prerequisite to peace, but let it be clear we maintain this strength in the hope it will never be used, for the ultimate determinant in the struggle that’s now going on in the world will not be bombs and rockets but a test of wills and ideas, a trial of spiritual resolve, the values we hold, the beliefs we cherish, the ideals to which we are dedicated.
Abraham Lincoln freed the black man. In many ways, Dr. King freed the white man…
- When the chips are down and the decisions are made as to who the candidates will be, then the 11th commandment prevails and everybody goes to work, and that is: Thou shalt not speak ill of another Republican.
- Remarks in New York City at a Reception for Delegates to the State Republican Convention (17 June 1982), this is a restatement of “The Eleventh Commandment” by California Republican Party Chairman Gaylord Parkinson, which Reagan first used in 1966.
- Yes, because for many years I was a Democrat.
- Response to Sam Donaldson (September 1982), on whether he shared any blame for the ongoing recession
- By outlawing Solidarity, a free trade organization to which an overwhelming majority of Polish workers and farmers belong, they have made it clear that they never had any intention of restoring one of the most elemental human rights—the right to belong to a free trade union.
- Abraham Lincoln freed the black man. In many ways, Dr. King freed the white man. How did he accomplish this tremendous feat? Where others — white and black — preached hatred, he taught the principles of love and nonviolence. We can be so thankful that Dr. King raised his mighty eloquence for love and hope rather than for hostility and bitterness. He took the tension he found in our nation, a tension of injustice, and channeled it for the good of America and all her people.
- Let us be aware that while they [the Soviet leadership] preach the supremacy of the state, declare its omnipotence over individual man, and predict its eventual domination of all peoples on the earth, they are the focus of evil in the modern world.
- Speech to the National Association of Evangelicals (8 March 1983)
Now, give me an Obama quote from his first two and a half years in office. I tried to be fair and objective about this, but this is all I could come up with.
- It’s Bush’s fault.
- You can keep your doctor.( not really true)
- It’s a bump in the road. ( the non-recovery recovery)
- I guess they really weren’t shovel ready projects after all.
I’m sorry, those were the best I could do. He has not made one inspirational speech to my memory. He is either proclaiming one of his perceived great deeds, demonizing someone or something, or blaming someone or something for problems. Hardly inspirational.
We got our money’s worth with the great communicator, but we have been shortchanged with the great teleprompter reader.