It’s fun and worthwhile to point out that liberals and leftists detested Reagan not too long ago. But what’s more important than any gotchyas on their hypocrisy is the fact that many of these folks may now be sincere. The fact that America seems largely united in its admiration for Ronald Reagan is a sign of his success in changing the country. It’s funny, today there’s this tendency among liberals and not a few conservatives to talk about FDR as if he was this great unifying figure. He was for a majority of people, but he was also one of the most deeply reviled and detested political figures in American history, including among a great many people we would call liberals and leftists today. For good or ill, it’s a sign of FDR’s success at bending the society to his will that we now think he was some sort of revered demi-god when he was in the Oval Office. It is an astounding tribute to his accomplishments that today — less than two decades after his profoundly controversial presidency — a majority of Americans, including the elite, are on roughly the same page about his greatness.