A Sight for Sore Eyes

How I miss The Gipper - let me count the ways! With a sunny optimism and a fierce determination, Reagan led the United States out of the malaise of the Carter years and rallied the nation into becoming a confident juggernaut that gained economic strength and finished off the Soviet Union in 1989.

It is the celebration of his 100th birthday and it isn't just Americans that recognize his contributions to freedom. Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic and England are celebrating too with statues in his honor. Today, July 4, our friends the Brits are dedicating his statue at Grosvenor Square, near one of Dwight Eisenhower, and holding a dinner tonight to fondly remember his contribution to world peace. He and Prime Minister Thatcher had a warm relationship and it was their steadfastness, along with Pope John Paul II, that eventually led to the Soviet Union falling into the dustbin of history. Reagan was an American to be sure, but as these testimonies attest, he was also a man of the world in a way that President Obama cannot even imagine. I hope that as I write these words a man or woman of similar character is responding to our country's call. Character counts.

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