Budget Impasse As Ronald Reagan Might Have Seen It.

Peggy Noonan did a smart thing for her current “Declarations” column in the Wall Street Journal. She talked to James Baker, a man of many imposing titles over four decades, about the government shutdown and how Ronald Reagan handled such challenges. The short answer is by exerting leadership through negotiations.

Here’s an essential paragraph:

Ronald Reagan faced a fiercely Democratic house throughout both terms of his presidency. “Those days were bitter, but we got into a room and we thrashed it out. The ‘Gang of Five,’ the ‘Gang of 17’—we worked it out, each side gave a little, and we got the government working. Reagan—as you know, he had the reputation of being a conservative ideologue. But he wasn’t, he was pragmatic.” He worked with the other side and “won them over.” How? “Horse trading, compromise and negotiation made the government work.” Bill Clinton too “was willing to negotiate when he had a body controlled by the opposite party.”

Baker proposes his own sensible solution to this week’s battle:

What should President Obama do? Own it. Lead. “Leading would be call [Speaker John] Boehner in: ‘All right, this is a sorry situation for our country. Come on here and let’s talk about resolving it.'” In this negotiation they should first explore an agreement on getting rid of the special provisions for Congress. Second, they could move to come to agreement on eliminating the medical device tax.

The world as Ronald Reagan might have seen it often looks very good indeed.