While those who are good at something are usually good at most things, a person who is capable of rising to the top in one field need not be capable of rising to the top in all fields. The search for one's calling may take one on a path not lined with triumphs. That's OK. Indeed, such a path may be the best preparation for success in the field of one's calling. For Ronald Reagan, this field of calling was presidency.
Reagan's style as president was consistent with his convictions. He believed that the Constitution described the rules of the political game as it ought to be, and the market economy described the rules of the economic game as it ought to be. As a result, his job was not to redesign, to reengineer, or to regulate: neither the liberal democracy prescribed by the Constitution nor the free market beg to be micromanaged
Reagan's job was to inspire fellow Americans to coordinate on the good equilibrium of the game that was the American project he wholeheartedly endorsed. His experience in Hollywood had equipped him well to inspire. The comfort that he habitually found in being good gave him the confidence in the existence of an equilibrium that was good, too.
