I agree Reagan was The Man.  But The Man also had a great speach writer.  Where will we get the next great speach writer?

Reagan had great writers, but he did a lot of writing too. I wouldn’t put too much credit on the writers, as it was Reagan’s moral compass which dictated the direction of his speeches.  Unlike Obama’s writers, Reagan’s speechwriters didn’t look at polls, and public opinion (AIG bonuses, etc.), to decide what to say.

Doesn’t that seem a little impossible?  Reagan may have been able to do it but I can’t imagine too many people can read with one eye and look around with the other.  Most people when both eyes are open will have both focus on the same spot.  Try it with your computer screen.  Seems a little bit of folklore to me.  He was a good speech giver, saw him once when I was in ninth grade. 

It may be a myth, but Michael Deaver brought it up on Charlie Rose one time.  See the fifth bullet point down:

[quote=now_indy]It may be a myth, but Michael Deaver brought it up on Charlie Rose one time.  See the fifth bullet point down:

I don't think they're saying he would read with one eye and gaze around the audience with the other, like a chameleon . They're saying he took out a lens so he could FOCUS on the speech AND still see the audience clearly. <?: prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

Many of us who wear lens know about that. I used to wear a prescription for my lens that would compromise my distant vision so much to give me super-sharp near vision that it drove me wild. For a time I would wear just one lens to get a better compromise at my doctor’s recommendation.

That makes more sense!