ABSTRACT
The more a politician alters prevailing policies and expectations concerning behavior while moving events in the desired direction, that movement and direction being compatible with democratic norms, the better the strategist. President Reagan's disinterest in, and misstatement of, facts about many aspects of public policy have led some observers to characterize him as dumb. Denigration of the president has led Democrats to underestimate his policy guidance. President Reagan has appropriated tax cuts that would otherwise have been available to Democrats for their favorite causes. Attention has been focused on the president's personal constitution rather than on the changes he has wrought in the institutional constitution. The contempt hurled at President Reagan over the principles nearly agreed to at Reykjavik reveal the intellectual and political bankruptcy of his critics. A good part of the objections to Reagan's style comes from those who think that presidents should have many more preferences and should intervene far more directly to achieve them.
