A View Without Hills or Valleys

Reagan remains sure, serene and startlingly detached

Ronald Reagan is a wonder. Such zest, such zip, such uncontrived bonhomie. The past three years have brought plenty of crises for the country and his Administration, but Reagan cruises along as serenely self-confident as ever. Now is usually the time in a first term when the press trots out the before-and-after photographs, palpably depicting the burdens of the Oval Office: rosy, beaming President-elect vs. haggard, wan incumbent. But Reagan, now the oldest President in history, seems to have grown more robust since his Inauguration. After...