Ronald Reagan: Trying a Comeback

"I take full responsibility for my own actions and for those of my Administration. As angry as I may be about activities undertaken without my knowledge, I am still accountable for those activities. As disappointed as I may be in some who served me, I am still the one who must answer to the American people for this behavior. And as personally distasteful as I find secret bank accounts and diverted funds, well, as the Navy would say, this happened on my watch

"There are reasons why it happened, but no excuses. It was a mistake."

For the old trouper it was a masterly performance. Speaking to the nation on Ash Wednesday in perhaps the most important address of his long political career, Ronald Reagan was simultaneously repentant yet still proud, regretful yet determined. He unflinchingly accepted responsibility for the Iran-contra scandal that has threatened his presidency. But while admitting that his overture to Iran quickly turned into an arms-for-hostages swap because he was so deeply concerned about the hostages' well-being, the President refused to % disavow the initiative as wrongheaded from the start.

Instead, Reagan looked to the future, assuming the tone of a grandfatherly sage: "By the time you reach my age, you've made plenty of mistakes. And if you've lived your life properly, so you learn. You put things in perspective. You pull your energies together. You change, you go forward."

Forward momentum was something Reagan desperately needed after months adrift in the Iran-contra scandal and the devastating report from the Tower commission depicting an inattentive President surrounded by reckless advisers. The President's response to the report, and his widely applauded appointments of a new White House chief of staff and CIA director to go along with his new National Security Adviser, gave a boost to an Administration that had been foundering. Though it failed to address several of the more troubling aspects of Iranscam, the meticulously crafted twelve-minute speech showed that Reagan recognized the severity of the crisis and had determined to take steps to remedy the situation.

By summoning his tremendous skills as an orator, Reagan once again managed to swing events his way, however temporarily. The address won bipartisan plaudits on Capitol Hill and favorable coverage in the press. Overnight polls showed the President's approval rating, which had sagged to a four-year low, rising by as much as 9 points. At the White House, the mood changed from tragic to triumphant. "There's a big difference over there," said Nancy Reynolds, a close friend of the Reagans'. "You can hear it in people's voices. You can smell it in the air."

But like the false spring temperatures that warmed the nation's capital last week, the uptick in the President's fortunes could be merely transitory. Artful as it was, Reagan's speech did not resolve the most serious question raised by Iranscam: Is the President at 76 sufficiently alert and involved to lead the country? To regain political advantage for the final two years of his Administration, Reagan must still overcome formidable obstacles, particularly the ongoing investigations of the scandal and his passive work habits.