When his presidency was just five hours old, on Inauguration Day, 1981, Ronald Reagan took a respite from the celebration and the constant bulletins about the hostages en route home from Tehran by joking with reporters, "It's been a very wonderful day. I guess now I can go back to California, can't I?"
The quip was a typical Reagan play on his ostensible disdain for Washington and for the traditional politician's obsession with power. In a profoundly personal way, Friday's Inaugural will be an even more wonderful day for the nation's oldest President. Eight years ago, many skeptics predicted that he...
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