Can anyone understand how it is to have lived in the White House and then suddenly to be living alone as the President's widow?

Here's a proposal offered only partly in jest: no resident of the United States whether born here or abroad should get to be a citizen until age 18 at which time each such resident has to take a test.

Credit or debit cards for starters are nothing short of shoppers' Novocain. Even in the age of digital purchases and virtual money we still attach a special value to dirty paper with pictures of presidents on it. Handing some of that to a cashier simply hurts more than handing over a little sliver of plastic.

As the age of television progresses the Reagans will be the rule not the exception. To be perfect for television is all a President has to be these days.

Thomas Jefferson once said 'We should never judge a president by his age only by his works.' And ever since he told me that I stopped worrying.