Defending Ronald Reagan and the GOP's Brand
Corrected on 3/17/09: An earlier version of this post incorrectly said that the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library Foundation will be offering suggestions to the GOP. As a nonprofit, the foundation is barred from engaging in partisan politics.
By Paul Bedard, Washington Whispers
"Ronald Reagan is back!" That's how John Heubusch, a former Gateway exec just tagged to run the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library Foundation, told Whispers over the weekend. What does he mean? After the GOP took another beating at the polls and after Democrats have tried to tarnish the Reagan brand name, the foundation is mounting an effort to defend the Gipper's name and ideas.
The foundation is "about to rescue the cause of Reaganism from the jaws of Obamaism," says Heubusch, a former aide in the administration of President George H. W. Bush. He called the Reagan name the "most important Republican brand" in decades and one that has to be defended as the memory of the former president fades. "One key goal is for me to make that name, Reagan, relevant in the modern sense." Another is to answer critics who are attempting to attack the Reagan brand. "We want to be the ones who answer the question: What would Reagan do?"
The foundation is mostly known for its sprawling facility in Simi Valley, Calif. The library and museum complex has several spectacular exhibits, including a full-size Air Force One and Oval Office. Heubusch said he plans to help raise a $100 million endowment and is already planning for the centennial of Reagan's birthday in 2011. No other presidential foundation has mapped such an expansive plan to influence Washington before, though the Clinton foundation, based in New York, handles outreach on its issues in Washington.
A former executive at the computer company Gateway, Heubusch has a rich political pedigree and is being brought on by Fred Ryan, the foundation's chairman who is also the force behind Politico. Readers might recall the story Ryan told us about Reagan's first day in his California retirement office. Heubusch started in Washington as a research analyst with the Air Force, then as a Republican congressional aide. His titles have included executive director of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, chief of staff at the Department of Labor under the first Bush, and vice president of the Red Cross when Elizabeth Dole was president. He has recently headed Gateway founder Ted Waitt's foundation and an investment group called Avalon Capital Group. He has a good record in fundraising, serving as a key fundraiser for Sen. John McCain's presidential campaign. And Heubusch currently is the chief operating officer of Brahma Holdings, a technology venture based in La Jolla, Calif.
Tags: Republicans | Ronald Reagan
Tools: 
Share
|
| Comments (18) | Print
Reader Comments
The roosters are coming come
Though I'm a Democrat, there was a lot to like about Reagan during the 1980s. He gave Republicans a positive role model and won the trust of a lot of Democrats.
But he also gave us the habit of deficit spending and the amassing of national debt, and that debt is crushing our ability to deal with the short-term and long-term world economic crisis. Bush I and Clinton did their best to get the deficit down, and even met with success, but the debt has never gone away and in fact has become staggeringly high under Bush II. Much of our national budget goes to servicing that debt and reassuring our debtors.
Now Obama needs to run big deficits for awhile in order to free the credit markets and stimulate economic demand. He truly has no choice in this. But because of Reagan's legacy of debt it is quite possible that we will not escape from the quicksands of this economic morass for years -- even decades -- to come.
The roosters have come home.
reagan
obama is trying to use Reagan economic plan to restate the economy,but he has sandwiched so much liberal social programs in to it ,it will probably not work as planned.the democrats always try to use some disaster to further they social engineering program,the stimulus is contaminated with things most people don't want and will have to swallow the bitter pill of socialism in order to get a recovering economy,it will take years to undo the damage the liberals will do to constitutional and bill 0f rights to restore our freedoms they are chiseling away at
Ron is just lost
I am sorry he is the son of Ronald Reagan, the great. This guy does not have a clue, he just play the innocent. What kind of opinion he can have? He is just a dancer! with no brain.
advertisement
