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The deepest worry in all this for the American public is that the Reagan Administration is losing touch with reality. No one can reasonably demand that the President abandon the beliefs he has argued all his political life. But a successful President must adapt his strongest convictions to changing circumstances, and he cannot let the optimism that is a major virtue blind him to disagreeable facts. Overseas, not every policy is well founded just because it is anti-Soviet; at home, the greatest threat to American prosperity seems to be the stratospheric budget deficits that are aggravated by Reagan's policies. And failure to restore prosperity threatens, among other things, to prevent the re-election of Reagan, or the election of a Republican successor, in 1984.
That is an argument that impresses Reagan not at all. Says Nancy: "You will never get anywhere with him if you say, 'This will help you [politically].' You might as well forget it." Reagan insists that he has instructed his advisers never to consider the vote-getting potential of a decision, and his aides unanimously confirm it. That testimony sounds too self-serving to be swallowed whole, and there have been actions that contradict it, notably Reagan's lifting of the embargo on U.S. grain sales to the Soviets. But it comes from too many sources to be discounted. At the very least, that stand is a refreshing change from having every issue judged by the Nixon Administration's immortal criterion: How will it play in Peoria?
There is, however, a danger in the President's approach that should be appreciated even by those who share his principles. Those conservative principles now have by far their most effective spokesman ever in Reagan, whose theatrics have been brilliant. But his grasp on the substance of his responsibilities is much less secure, and he threatens to push his principles to an extreme. A military buildup faster than the country can afford, combined with tax cuts so deep they produce staggering deficits, could lead to total economic stagnation. This, in turn, could discredit the whole conservative agenda. If that happens, Ronald Reagan risks having his current term eventually regarded as an aberrational interlude in American politics, rather than the start of a significant change in the direction of Government.
—By George J. Church. Reported by Douglas Brew and John F. Stacks/Washington