The Gipper lives

It look as if Barack Obama's praise for former U.S. President Ronald Reagan was not a gaffe at all. Obama felt no need to withdraw or even amend that praise, usually the final stage of the gaffe trajectory. On the contrary, it wrong-footed his opponents, strengthened his appeal to Republicans and independents for November, widened his ideological options and confirmed his public image of cool graciousness. Not a bad return on saying what almost everyone, including his rivals John Edwards and Hillary (and Bill) Clinton, knows to be a fact. John O'Sullivan writes.

Aust 23 Jan 2008