Yankee Doodle Candidate

By Evan Thomas

The President rides high on feelings of optimism and patriotism

He toasts Chinese leaders in the Great Hall of the People. He mourns at the tomb of the Unknown Soldier. He chokes up on the D-day beaches of Normandy.

He leads the pomp and ceremony at the economic summit in London. With television cameras following his every move, Ronald Reagan seems to glide from one glorious "photo opportunity" to another.

As Election Day draws nearer, Reagan will seek the video limelight even more. On the Fourth of July, he will start the Daytona Beach Firecracker 400 stock-car race by telephone from Air Force One. The President's jet is scheduled to land at the airport within camera range of the track, and if all goes smoothly, the onetime sportscaster might even climb into the announcer's booth and call a few laps. Smiles a Reagan campaign official: "That ought to be seen at some point by millions of good, solid, Middle Americans." But that is nothing. Some 2 billion are expected to see him as he opens the Olympic Games in a flag-waving extravaganza on July 28 at Los Angeles.

Such scenes could hardly do more to buttress Reagan's message that "America is back" on top--and that he is the man to keep it there.

Unlike most politicians, Reagan is able to wrap himself in the flag without seeming hokey or opportunistic.

His political ads on TV tell Americans (shown getting married, moving into new homes, restoring the Statue of Liberty) that they are "feeling good again," and that Reagan is the reason why. Many Americans believe it. To them, Reagan is both the cause and repository of the nation's renewed sense of optimism and patriotism. Says Indiana's Republican Governor Robert Orr: "He takes the high road in that happy and enthusiastic way of his; people can't help but respond positively." Agrees Rahm Emanuel, a Democratic political consultant in Illinois: "He shows a confidence just in the way he stands. He is tall in the saddle. Ronald Reagan is a ball game and a picnic on a weekend in July."

Reagan has tapped a longing for national pride that was deadened by Viet Nam and Watergate. Just how deep that feeling runs can be seen in the outpouring of emotion that is greeting the Olympic torch as it wends its way across the American heartland (see following story). "The country has wanted a reason to feel confident," says Republican Political Strategist John Sears. "We've felt badly about ourselves for ten or 15 years."

Reagan's magic seems to be working abroad as well as at home. In the past, many foreign leaders privately scorned the former actor as a Hollywood cowboy, a naif at statecraft. Yet even the most skeptical heads of government at the Western economic summit were reassured by Reagan's poised leadership style.

Out of both courtesy and pragmatism, they were reluctant to tangle with a politician running so strongly for reelection. Reagan returned home last week with his image as statesman enhanced.

Reagan's roll could grind to a halt, however, if the economic recovery fizzles. "The economy is the ball game this year. Everything depends on it," concedes a top Reagan aide. Imagery is fragile. Jimmy Carter seemed refreshingly down-home in his blue jeans and cardigan until inflation rocketed and the Ayatullah Khomeini seized Iran and the hostages; then he looked to many like a peanut farmer in over his head. Reagan cuts a fine figure at ceremonies, but in hard times he might seem much too blithe and out of touch. The Democrats will argue, of course, that hard times are looming, that the big deficit and rising interest rates presage economic disaster. "The fear factor is important," says Democratic Pollster Peter Hart. "People will ask, Will I be unemployed in the next twelve months?"

Nominee-apparent Walter Mondale will try to paint Reagan as dangerously detached, babbling happy talk while the storm gathers.

The Democrats' Cassandra strategy could fall on deaf ears, or even backfire.

As Carter discovered from the reaction to his ill-conceived "malaise" speech in 1979, it is harder to run on bad news than good.

Furthermore, Reagan will try to pin any economic woes on big-spending Democrats and the failed policies of the Carter-Mondale Administration. He has only to quote Gary Hart.

Reagan seems to relish the coming duel with Mondale. At press conferences, the President, 73 and hard of hearing, sometimes appears inarticulate and unsure of the facts. But at last week's session he was feisty and sharp. Questioned about Carter's prediction that Reagan might try to duck a debate with Mondale, the President fairly jumped at the chance to mimic his devastating line from the 1980 debate with Carter. Declared Reagan:

"There he goes again!" The President then nodded with zest: "I would look forward to a debate." He smoothly exploited the advantages of incumbency. Questioned about the fairness of the Reagan Revolution, he insisted that the Administration is "helping more people and paying more money than ever in the history of this country in all of those social programs." He allowed that 850,000 presumably undeserving people had been cut off from food stamps, but insisted that more than that number of needy people get them now.

Reagan's standing within his own party is at a three-year high, and his message continues to play well with a surprising number of Democrats. G.O.P. polls show him with an approval rating of 65%, and other polls put him 8 points ahead of Mondale.

"It's beyond our wildest expectations," says a top White House official. "It's so high that it's scary."

The Reaganauts do not expect the giddy numbers to last. Indeed, they predict that the race will be tight by Labor Day, after Mondale has a chance to pull the Democrats together and focus his attacks on Reagan. The Reagan camp fears the unexpected: a sudden economic downturn, a foreign policy upheaval, a blunder by their own man. For now, it seems that the race is Reagan's to lose. Says Republican Pollster Robert Teeter: "Mondale is going to have to draw the political equivalent of an inside straight." As they watch Reagan celebrate the nation's upbeat mood on the evening news, the Democrats must be wondering if the deck is not stacked against them.

--By Evan Thomas.

Reported by Douglas Brew/Washington, with other bureaus

With reporting by Douglas Brew/Washington, with other bureaus