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 Well. Today is the day. Nancy is already up and getting her hair done when you get out of bed. She is, as always, fastidious about her appearance. Washington is at last getting that touch of Hollywood beauty and talent. She will make a great First Lady. You’re both ready for the role of a lifetime. It’s too bad the drama of the day does not yet involve you. Iran still holds Americans hostage. It’s been over a year, and still the end is not in sight. Some sort of deal has been hammered out overnight, and your political aide, Mike Deaver, jabbers about it a little, but it’s no concern of yours until after noon. Jimmy Carter still has time to clean up his own mess. The media are showing planes on the tarmac in Teheran. They’re not moving yet. Apparently the hostages won’t be released as long as Carter is president. They may not be released even then. You and Nancy arrive at the White House to have a traditional coffee with the outgoing President and First Lady. Carter looks like he hasn’t slept in weeks. He’s gray and has dark circles under his eyes from lack of sleep. The job was too much for him and has exhausted him. He really needs the coffee. Carter rides with you to the Capitol. You don’t ask about the hostages. He doesn’t say much, either. He’s not rude, as such, but he remains aloof. You and Nancy had hoped Carter and his wife would give you a tour of the private living quarters inside the White House a few days before, but they passed you to the staff and went away. Now he sulks. It’s all very annoying. After all, this is your big day. This is the first time the inauguration will be held on the west side of the Capitol. As a Californian, it’s only appropriate. The memorials to presidents past, Washington, Lincoln, Jefferson, are visible behind the crowds waiting to see you. Tens of thousands have braved the bitter cold to wave the red, white and blue, to feel good about being Americans again, to catch this moment in history. Chief Justice Burger signals. Nancy holds up your mother’s Bible. The moment has come. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6MPLfcibhA You, Ronald Wilson Reagan, are now the fortieth President of the United States. You inherit a nation in turmoil. Interest rates stand at 21 percent. Stagflation is setting in. Recession looms. America has been unable to stop a new tide of Communism or even protect its own in the face of international terrorism. America now depends on your leadership. What is the substance of your inaugural address? A: You take advantage of the international crisis to outline your plans on containing Islamic terrorism and the spread of Communism. B: This speech needs to be about America. You discuss your plans for government reform, including lowering taxes and reducing regulations. C: You keep it upbeat and very general. Maybe you use the story about the bomber copilot who goes down with the trapped kid. You always like telling that one. What is your first official act as president? A: You call a quick meeting to determine when the hostages will be released and what the official response will be if Iran continues to hold them past today. B: You sign an executive order lifting some price controls as a first step toward limiting government power. C: You go eat lunch. It will get cold otherwise. Why Reagan? Reagan left office in 1989, retired from public life in 1994, and died in 2004, but still has a surprising influence in American politics. In a 2010 poll about the nine most recent presidents, 74% of Americans approved of Reagan, behind only Kennedy in popularity. For Republicans, he remains a rallying point and totem. Scott Walker has patterned his adult life around a weird worship of Reagan. Donald Trump has mastered Reagan’s ability to manipulate the press and crush opponents with one-liners. The entire Bush legacy rests on the father’s relationship with his old boss. This popularity is not limited to Republicans. Barack Obama recently stated, “(Reagan) put us on a fundamentally different path because the country was ready for it. I think they felt like with all the excesses of the 1960s and 1970s and government had grown and grown but there wasn't much sense of accountability in terms of how it was operating. I think…he just tapped into what people were already feeling, which was we want clarity, we want optimism, we want a return to that sense of dynamism and entrepreneurship that had been missing.” All of this love for one of the worst presidents America ever had. Reagan was usually detached from day-to-day governance, aside from his personal brickbats – reducing taxes and domestic programs, increasing military spending to overwhelm Communism, and endlessly talking about movies. Otherwise, Reagan deferred policy and power to a carnival of pirates. A privileged few made great wealth during his tenure, while communities suffered and the majority grew poorer. Even a playful review of the scandals and crimes of Reagan will serve as a reminder of what should not be allowed to happen again. A CYOA is an ideal way to inhabit the mind of Reagan. Reagan was notorious for his hands-off approach and lack of intellectual curiosity. Making a world-changing decision based off of a few paragraphs of scant information is an almost perfect parallel for Reagan’s thought process. There may be no better president to represent in a CYOA than Reagan. Let’s play. How do we play? I will post a short snippet of information about a policy point or historical moment along with a series of options that Reagan might have taken. Posters vote and the option with the most votes is the one Reagan will take. It’s as simple as that. Not so simple is how you, the voters, choose to make Reagan act. He can generally follow the outline of the real Reagan, if you enjoy skimming Wikipedia for your next move. You can attempt to redeem him and lessen or even eliminate the misery he created, to create a Reagan worthy of the praise he gets. Or you can play him as a complete villain, ruthlessly destroying all he can, and see if you can finally see him defeated in 1984, or even impeached and imprisoned. Occasionally we may have a comedy option, something off-key and stupid you can’t imagine a President of the United States doing, like committing hara-kiri or converting to communism or playfully announcing nuclear war over the radio. I should warn you though, sometimes the comedy option will be something awful the real Reagan did. In some ways I’m flying blind. I was 5 when Reagan took office and 13 when he left, so my memories, particularly of the first term, are spotty. There is no magisterial biography to match the Caro treatment of Lyndon Johnson that rakovsky maybe is using in his CYOA, so I’ve been making do with Reagan’s autobiography and diaries plus Sleepwalking Through History: America in the Reagan Years by Haynes Johnson. I’ll pull from other sources wherever I can, but if you want to highlight a particular Reagan moment or pull the adventure in a bizarre new direction, feel free to bring it up. We’re going to relive the 1980s. Let’s hope we can make them good.
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Jan 28, 2016 08:52
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A and A I like the concept but I'm curious to see where you will take it so lobbing a slowball.
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Jan 28, 2016 11:44
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C and C
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Jan 28, 2016 12:30
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B and A
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Jan 28, 2016 14:17
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A and A. Kind of want to see if we can make Ronnie a secret liberal or at least a moderate Republican and see where it goes. Foreman Domai has issued a correction as of 16:03 on Jan 28, 2016 |
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Jan 28, 2016 14:51
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A and A Let's not blow up our Presidency before it gets started.
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Jan 28, 2016 15:02
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The Welfare Lobby posted:A and A. A,A I wonder if he will start melting when imbued with left wing essences
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Jan 28, 2016 15:06
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C, C Didn't win this race to work too hard you know
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Jan 28, 2016 15:15
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C, C
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Jan 28, 2016 16:37
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A and A
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Jan 28, 2016 17:23
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D: speech about how you think Taxi Driver was overrated as a film, being particularly critical of Jodie Foster's performance D: shove jar of jellybeans up rear end
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Jan 28, 2016 17:38
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C and C The senility is setting in early.
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Jan 28, 2016 18:12
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What is the substance of your inaugural address? D: We announce the immediate shuttering of at least 50% of the federal government, including but not limited to the Department of Education, the Department of Energy, and the IRS. Government is not the solution, hence it is the problem, and the first step to fixing said problem is to shut it down, immediately and permanently. What is your first official act as president? C: We demand the immediate resignation of all workers employed by the federal government. Anyone still on federal government grounds by 5 PM who has not tendered their resignation will be treated as an invading enemy combatant. Hires will be made on a temporary basis going forward and will make no more than the federal minimum wage, up until we can eliminate the minimum wage. Then we go eat lunch. It will get cold otherwise.
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Jan 28, 2016 18:24
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A and A
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Jan 28, 2016 19:15
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Where's the option to pull out your revolver and eat a bullet?  gently caress, C and C then I guess 
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Jan 28, 2016 19:45
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The Welfare Lobby posted:A and A. If our base or our Republican allies in government question our strange "liberal" decisions, we can always invoke the great Republican president Dwight D. Eisenhower, and say that we're just trying to emulate him.
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Jan 28, 2016 20:22
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Lord of Pie posted:D: speech about how you think Taxi Driver was overrated as a film, being particularly critical of Jodie Foster's performance But for real though B and B Let's burn this motherfucker down. I won't be happy until the world is but cinders. NumberLast has issued a correction as of 22:12 on Jan 28, 2016 |
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Jan 28, 2016 22:09
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A and A. Let's make the 80s bearable.
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Jan 28, 2016 22:11
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You should probably use The Clothes Have No Emperor by Paul Slansky for a timeline of every Reagan scandal, fuckup, and gaffe, in addition to the sources you're already using. It was an LF favorite and gives a day-by-day of all the crap.
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Jan 28, 2016 22:20
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C and C Full Senile Run is Go.
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Jan 28, 2016 22:58
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I reach for the revolver carefully hidden in the nightstand, place it firmly in my mouth and pull the trigger.
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Jan 28, 2016 23:08
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A, C It's important for us to maintain our public appearance. Our strongest weapon going forward is our Reagan Charm. We use that right, and we'll cruise through the '84 election no problem. We could just go with the funny stories for our speech, but that's not what the public wants to hear. It's 1981 and the public is scared shitless. Americans are being held hostage in Iran, and the drat commies are the whole world hostage. This is good. Americans who are scared will be more likely to support the poo poo we want to do. So let's scare 'em, then let 'em know we got their back. That's what they elected us for. And then we'll eat lunch. Because dammit, we're the President of the United States, and if we can't have a warm lunch then there's something seriously wrong with this country. People close to us might have a problem with that, but they don't matter. As long as the dumbos in the General Public love us, we're fine. We weren't elected by Washington Bureaucrats, after all. Plus, Jimmy's got us covered, right? We can just sit back, take credit for his work, and we'll be fiiine.
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Jan 29, 2016 00:25
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C C
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Jan 29, 2016 00:41
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A and A. The left will be already poised to take advantage of our age and our celebrity, painting us as an empty suit at best and a Magoo-esque doddering old fool at worst. We need to come out of the gate calm, collected, and presidential, but at the same time show that we've got plenty of fire left in our belly. Domestic policy isn't where we should focus first, however. We need to shore up America's position in the world and develop our reputation and capital first. It will be hard for our opposition to come out against the policies of the president who got the Iranian hostages home and who has made America and her interests safe once more where that ineffectual peanut farmer Carter failed.
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Jan 29, 2016 01:28
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Homework Explainer posted:I reach for the revolver carefully hidden in the nightstand, place it firmly in my mouth and pull the trigger. This, but kill Bush's stupid kids first.
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Jan 29, 2016 01:47
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C for both
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Jan 29, 2016 05:46
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Homework Explainer posted:I reach for the revolver carefully hidden in the nightstand, place it firmly in my mouth and pull the trigger. this would mean george h w "director of central intelligence" bush could preside for four years and still run in two more elections, right? since it's after the inauguration. be careful what you wish for
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Jan 29, 2016 06:07
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C,C gently caress ronald reagan
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Jan 29, 2016 07:44
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Corek posted:You should probably use The Clothes Have No Emperor by Paul Slansky for a timeline of every Reagan scandal, fuckup, and gaffe, in addition to the sources you're already using. It was an LF favorite and gives a day-by-day of all the crap. Thank God, I've been needing a timeline scandal. I'll definitely get that to help with this, thanks again.
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Jan 29, 2016 14:15
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AmyL posted:A and A
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Jan 29, 2016 14:26
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B and C Thanks, good thread. I grew up in a decently liberal area with immigrant parents. Wasn't a ton of Reagan talk or worship in the house. As a result of my well-poisoning liberal education, I picture him as someone who had a singular focus on things that didn't matter much, a wholesale disengagement from things that were beneficial to most of the country, and a general dementia haze over most everything else.
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Jan 29, 2016 16:48
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oystertoadfish posted:this would mean george h w "director of central intelligence" bush could preside for four years and still run in two more elections, right? since it's after the inauguration. be careful what you wish for Nope. The Twenty‐second Amendment posted:No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice, and no person who has held the office of President, or acted as President, for more than two years of a term to which some other person was elected President shall be elected to the office of the President more than once. But this article shall not apply to any person holding the office of President when this article was proposed by the Congress, and shall not prevent any person who may be holding the office of President, or acting as President, during the term within which this article becomes operative from holding the office of President or acting as President during the remainder of such term. My votes are 1. A. External conflict is more fun. 2. C. I have a good feeling about those hostages, and who gives a poo poo about price controls?  P.S.: Hand out jelly beans at every opportunity.
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Jan 29, 2016 17:59
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A and C. The Carter administration shamed this great country, and we should work to cleanse that shame. But we can't restore faith in our country on an empty stomach!
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Jan 30, 2016 04:31
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A and B We can get around to those hostages, but first we must free America...from being taken hostage, by prices. The control of. By government.
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Jan 30, 2016 13:29
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C & C because we're senile as gently caress and we don't comprehend that today is different or special
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Jan 30, 2016 17:54
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Forums Terrorist posted:A and C. The Carter administration shamed this great country, and we should work to cleanse that shame. But we can't
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Jan 30, 2016 18:28
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A GIANT PARSNIP posted:C & C because we're senile as gently caress and we don't comprehend that today is different or special
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Jan 30, 2016 22:16
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Don Jaime how often can we expect updates from your end? I am positively fizzling with anticipation.
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Jan 31, 2016 04:34
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C and C You could always rely on Ronnie to tell the same story no matter the context or situation.
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Jan 31, 2016 13:14
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quote:What is the substance of your inaugural address?  You wrote the inaugural address yourself, and it mostly deals with economics. You mentally delete much of it and focus on the international needs of the country. “My fellow Americans, I believe we, the Americans of today, are ready to act worthy of ourselves, ready to do what must be done to ensure happiness and liberty for ourselves, our children, and our children's children. And as we renew ourselves here in our own land, we will be seen as having greater strength throughout the world. We will again be the exemplar of freedom and a beacon of hope for those who do not now have freedom. “To those neighbors and allies who share our freedom, we will strengthen our historic ties and assure them of our support and firm commitment. We will match loyalty with loyalty. We will strive for mutually beneficial relations. We will not use our friendship to impose on their sovereignty, for our own sovereignty is not for sale. “As for the enemies of freedom, those who are potential adversaries, they will be reminded that peace is the highest aspiration of the American people. We will negotiate for it, sacrifice for it; we will not surrender for it, now or ever. “Our forbearance should never be misunderstood. Our reluctance for conflict should not be misjudged as a failure of will. When action is required to preserve our national security, we will act. We will maintain sufficient strength to prevail if need be, knowing that if we do so we have the best chance of never having to use that strength. “Above all, we must realize that no arsenal or no weapon in the arsenals of the world is so formidable as the will and moral courage of free men and women. It is a weapon our adversaries in today's world do not have. It is a weapon that we as Americans do have. Let that be understood by those who practice terrorism and prey upon their neighbors." You add, “Let terrorists be aware that when the rules of international behavior are violated, our policy will be one of swift and effective retribution. We hear it said that we live in an era of limit to our powers. Well, let it also be understood, there are limits to our patience. This is a big and powerful nation. It has a lot of options open to it. People have gone to bed in some of these countries that have done these things to us in the past confident that they can go to sleep, wake up in the morning, and the United States wouldn't have taken any action. What I meant by that phrase was that anyone who does these things, violates our rights in the future, is not going to be able to go to bed with that confidence.” The crowd roars. Everyone wants vengeance on the Ayatollah Khomeini and his thugs in Iran. But they mustn’t forget who the real enemy is. “And so far,” you continue, “detente's been a one-way street that the Soviet Union has used to pursue its own aims. I don't have to think of an answer as to what I think their intentions are; they have repeated it. I know of no leader of the Soviet Union since the revolution, and including the present leadership, that has not more than once repeated in the various Communist congresses they hold their determination that their goal must be the promotion of world revolution and a one-world Socialist or Communist state, whichever word you want to use. “Now, as long as they do that and as long as they, at the same time, have openly and publicly declared that the only morality they recognize is what will further their cause, meaning they reserve unto themselves the right to commit any crime, to lie, to cheat, in order to attain that, and that is moral, not immoral, and we operate on a different set of standards.” This gets a lot of applause. Americans are tired of being bated by its enemies. You round out the speech by referencing the standards set by the presidents commemorated in the memorials behind the crowd and at Arlington beyond. You praise the prayer meetings that mark much of the day. “Together with God's help we can and will resolve the problems which now confront us. And after all, why shouldn't we believe that? We are Americans. God bless you, and thank you.” The applause is deafening. You still wish you could have talked more about the real problem – that government is the problem, and not the solution. Well, you made a big to-do about it during the campaign, and there’s plenty of time to focus on reducing taxes and bureaucracy. Right now, you’re hungry. quote:What is your first official act as president? Passing by the President’s Room, where an executive order releasing price controls on oil and gasoline goes unsigned, you and Nancy sit down to a delicious California-style lunch in Statuary Hall. You are enjoying your chicken piccata and rice pilaf when aides tell you that the crisis is over. “Some 30 minutes ago,” you announce, “the planes bearing our prisoners left Iranian airspace and are now free of Iran. So, we can all drink to this one: To all of us, together, doing what we all know we can do to make this country what it should be, what it can be, what it always has been.” Cheers ring through the Capitol for the embassy staff and for you. And on that note, the party really begins. The inaugural parade awaits, and you and Nancy will dance at ten different inaugural balls, delighted in the knowledge that the hostages are finally free.  January 27, 1981 - You have a ceremony at the White House for the Iran hostages.  Well, not all of them. At the ceremony to welcome the hostages home, you learn that Cynthia Dwyer is not among them. Dwyer is a freelance journalist who was framed for espionage after the rescue attempt failed. She was not included in the negotiations to release the embassy staff and is still stuck in Iran. You have to decide what to do about the mess in Iran soon, as its revolution is destabilizing the entire region, but first you have to settle the matter of one last hostage. How do you secure the release of Cynthia Dwyer? A: Quietly threaten not to release frozen Iranian assets unless Dwyer is released. We leave no one behind and Iran gets nothing until every American is out. B: Open new negotiations to free Dwyer. This will allow you to start fresh with Iran from a less vulnerable position than Carter had. C: Negotiate for nothing. Bomb Iran if they won't release Dwyer. D: Dwyer knew the risks and went to Iran of her own accord. Iran can keep her if it wants. Proceed with your new Iran policy without worrying about her. You still need to attend to America’s financial problems as well, and fast. Your 44-state victory had long coattails in the Senate, but failed to turn the House. Speaker Tip O’Neill and his klatch of liberals still control things and have signaled their intention to stop your economic plans by refusing to raise the country’s debt ceiling. Some of your fellow Republicans are also signaling that they don’t want to raise the debt ceiling. Your old friend Donald Regan, once chief of Merrill Lynch and now the Secretary of the Treasury, warns you that without raising the ceiling, the United States will no longer be able to borrow money and be unable to pay interest on loans or salaries to government employees. “The Democrats won’t be able to spend as much as they’d like without raising the ceiling,” Don says, “so it’s really just them trying to manipulate you. They intend to raise it eventually. But they’ll want something in return first, or at least make you look responsible for running up the national debt” David Stockman, the energetic “supply-side” economist you made Director of the Office of Management and Budget, has something to add. “I can’t find anything that indicates the debt ceiling must be raised by statute. You could extend it with an executive order….” How will you get the Democrats to raise the debt ceiling? A: Shmooze them. Invite Democratic congressmen to the White House and try to get them to vote for a debt ceiling increase. You can also sound out conservative Democrats to see if they will support your plans instead of following O’Neill. B: Call their bluff. Indicate you’d be happy to let them limit the size of the federal government for you, and that you will reduce federal spending per the current debt ceiling. Maybe that will scare them into raising it for you and let you dominate them. C: Raise it yourself by executive order. Don’t give Congress any control over your economic goals at all if you can help it. * * * * * * * * * * I'm going to shoot for two of these a week, and I won't make the mistake of having to paste together a new inaugural address next time. But there's a ton of reading that goes with this, so it may end up being closer to once weekly. I'm trying to avoid posting without an update so I don't get people's hopes up. I know, very un-Reagany.
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Feb 1, 2016 08:05
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