New Year’s Resolutions

Over the holidays, President Reagan told the press that he had only one New Year’s resolution: not to make any New Year’s resolutions. Such abstention was due, doubtless, to Reagan’s wanting to reduce a diet of crow for backing off on sundry resolutions made earlier, notably: I’ll cut taxes, increase military spending, and balance the budget all at once; I’ll get rid of draft registration; I’m not going to let our old friends, the Taiwanese, feel abandoned. Or, I have no plans for increasing taxes in any way—which resolution, at the time of writing, also appears about to cave.

The net effect of these accumulated breaches is to create the suspicion that Ronald Reagan is a sheep in wolf’s clothing. The impression is reinforced by the report making the diplomatic rounds here that Reagan, in his oneon-one meetings with heads of state, is a pushover. Allegedly, he gives wide berth to sensitive bottom-line issues. With Helmut Schmidt, Reagan said nothing about Germany’s pipeline deal with the Soviets. With Menachem Begin, he said nothing about Israel’s treatment of Palestinian Arabs in occupied territories. With Zenko Suzuki, he omitted reference to Japan’s inordinately low defense budget. In sum, Reagan had been acting in foreign policy less like a commander and more like a curator of the Carterite State Department. Assuming this to be the case, we offer a handful of New Year’s resolutions Mr. Reagan might have made.

JM

About the Author

John McLaughlin

Featured Tags

Over the holidays, President Reagan told the press that he had only one New Year’s resolution: not to make any New Year’s resolutions. Such abstention was due, doubtless, to Reagan’s wanting to reduce a diet of crow for backing off on sundry resolutions made earlier, notably: I’ll cut taxes, increase military spending, and balance the budget all at once; I’ll get rid of draft registration; I’m not going to let our old friends, the Taiwanese, feel abandoned. Or, I have no plans for increasing taxes in any way—which resolution, at the time of writing, also appears about to cave.

The net effect of these accumulated breaches is to create the suspicion that Ronald Reagan is a sheep in wolf’s clothing. The impression is reinforced by the report making the diplomatic rounds here that Reagan, in his oneon-one meetings with heads of state, is a pushover. Allegedly, he gives wide berth to sensitive bottom-line issues. With Helmut Schmidt, Reagan said nothing about Germany’s pipeline deal with the Soviets. With Menachem Begin, he said nothing about Israel’s treatment of Palestinian Arabs in occupied territories. With Zenko Suzuki, he omitted reference to Japan’s inordinately low defense budget. In sum, Reagan had been acting in foreign policy less like a commander and more like a curator of the Carterite State Department. Assuming this to be the case, we offer a handful of New Year’s resolutions Mr. Reagan might have made.