In accepting the Nobel Peace Prize, Barack Obama paid tribute to Ronald Reagan:
"Ronald Reagan’s efforts on arms control and embrace of perestroika not only improved relations with the Soviet Union, but empowered dissidents throughout Eastern Europe."
The Daily Telegraph's Janet Daley takes him to task for those words, finding President Obama guilty of an "extraordinary historical fallacy":
"In fact, it was Ronald Reagan’s escalation of the arms race (through the much derided “star wars” programme) that bankrupted the Soviet Union, brought about the downfall of communism, and truly liberated the peoples of Eastern Europe."
Daley realises that Reagan's message of escalation "would not presumably have appealed much to the Nobel grandees in Oslo" and that is why the strong America of Reagan was not recognised by those grandees but the humble (some might say apologetic) America of Obama was.
