Giving Credit Where Credit is Due



I was never a fan of Nancy Reagan - her adoration of her husband to the point where her own children seemed insignificant to her gave me the creeps, and she was too regal for me (I know her stepfather was a prominent neurosurgeon, but that was far from an exact science in the first part of the 20th century, with many procedures being unsuccessful at best and killing the patient at worst - but hey, maybe malpractice suits hadn't been initiated yet). But one thing I give her credit for, and that is she has always been impeccably dressed. I don't think I've ever seen her wearing an ensemble that didn't work.


Strangely, she was never really given credit for her taste in clothes, unlike the 30ish Jacqueline Kennedy and the 40ish Michelle Obama. The likely reason: She was in her 60s. But that's no reason to lump her in with, say, Mamie Eisenhower.


As far as the so-called controversy over President Obama (God, I love saying that!) not inviting her to the White House for the stem cell announcement, for heaven's sake, the woman is pushing 90 and can hardly walk. You can bet that the same people pointing fingers at him for "disrespect" would have criticized him for getting an obviously frail woman to travel across the country just so he could trot her out to get publicity for his new legislation. Instead, he invited her to the White House when she happened to be in town for an unveiling of a statue of her late husband. Personally, I think that was the right thing to do.