The Public Brawl, the Secret War

One of Ronald Reagan’s favorite stories concerns a pair of boys who are given the chore of shoveling manure out of a stable—a task so daunting that one of them, a pessimist, finally gives it up. When the other, an optimist, is asked why he persists, he explains, “There’s got to be a pony in here somewhere.”

So far, no ponies have turned up for Ronald Reagan in Irandeal. Liberals may find a few. They certainly hope so. “There’s no one who wants to see a Presidency crippled,” claimed Representative Lee Hamilton (D., Ind.), chairman of the House Intelligence Committee. That is absurd. The instinct of any political animal is to cripple a Presidency that he opposes. The opponents of the Reagan Administration have tried, in turn, the 1982 recession, Lebanon, Walter Mondale, and Bitburg, all without success. This is their last, and best, shot. The questions they are pursuing boil down to two—who did what, and when—for it is in answer to these that instances of obvious incompetence or legal wrong-doing may emerge. Besides these questions, meanwhile, are others, not so well canvassed but more important, concerning the nature and conduct of foreign policy.

About the Author

Richard Brookhiser

Historian Richard Brookhiser is a senior editor of National Review and a senior fellow at the National Review Institute.

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One of Ronald Reagan’s favorite stories concerns a pair of boys who are given the chore of shoveling manure out of a stable—a task so daunting that one of them, a pessimist, finally gives it up. When the other, an optimist, is asked why he persists, he explains, “There’s got to be a pony in here somewhere.”

So far, no ponies have turned up for Ronald Reagan in Irandeal. Liberals may find a few. They certainly hope so. “There’s no one who wants to see a Presidency crippled,” claimed Representative Lee Hamilton (D., Ind.), chairman of the House Intelligence Committee. That is absurd. The instinct of any political animal is to cripple a Presidency that he opposes. The opponents of the Reagan Administration have tried, in turn, the 1982 recession, Lebanon, Walter Mondale, and Bitburg, all without success. This is their last, and best, shot. The questions they are pursuing boil down to two—who did what, and when—for it is in answer to these that instances of obvious incompetence or legal wrong-doing may emerge. Besides these questions, meanwhile, are others, not so well canvassed but more important, concerning the nature and conduct of foreign policy.