Hot Air has a post by someone calling himself Coldwarrior who worked in the CIA during the Reagan years:

Unlike the previous Carter Administration, who saw us as the reason American foreign policy failed, the Reagan Administration saw us as a means to make American foreign policy work…successfully. And, it did. Reagan liked us. Supported us. On any foreign visit, Reagan made sure he got to talk to the men and women of that overseas Station, to offer encouragement, a few typically Reagan jokes to get the conversation going, he had a sharp wit, I’ll say that. He was indeed our National Cheerleader at a time when the “experts” told us that there was no way we could best the Soviet Union, and accommodation was the only rational route to take. And these same experts shuddered in fear when Reagan called the bad guys an “Evil Empire” or made that famous last minute ad lib…”Gorbachev, tear down this Wall!!”

His visits to Langley were things that had crowds of professionals cheering like they were at their kids’ soccer championship or little league play-offs. He inspired us.

After reading Coldwarrior’s post, read this about President Obama’s approach to foreign policy to see how far we’ve actually fallen:

He has been blithely crossing ideological red lines and dancing on cultural third rails — the kinds of gestures that would have scorched an earlier generation of Democrats — with seeming impunity. Obama’s foes, and even some of his allies, are a bit mystified.

Part of the answer is generational. Many hot-button liberal issues — decades-long obsessions for many baby boomers — have cooled a lot since the last time a Democrat occupied the White House.

And part of it is that the highest-profile Republican messengers these days are a deeply unpopular former vice president and a similarly polarizing former House speaker — both of whose days in the sun would seem to be behind them.

“The fact is, the world has changed,” said Charlie Cook, who has carefully studied election results for decades. “Whether it was [Bill] Clinton, [Al] Gore or [John] Kerry, they were all spooked by ghosts. But Obama just isn’t. If you haven’t been around for decades hearing the ghost stories, then going in the big, dark house isn’t as scary.”

That last argument sound sort of like “ignorance is bliss.”