I admired his optimism and outlook, and belief in the individual and smaller govt - but history will not judge this president as well as his current popularity might suggest.
He had some good international actions, and also seeded many of the current crisis - he built bin Laden, many of the weapons he gave him were used against the US (semtex used in African embassies), gave WMD to Iraq and built Saddam into the regional strong man he was, supported/protected corrupt dicatorships and actually reduced democracy in select regions like South America. HE was responsible for Iran Contra directly, and "ultimately responsible" for the actions of his underlings such as Casey at CIA who perpetrated significant illegal acts - such as the Beirut car bombings which helped create the Hezbollah - and Haig who gave Areil Sharon cover for his Lebanon invasion. 20 years isnt enough to consider a mans place in history - and nobody will ever do anything correct - but in retrospect, the US planted seeds of disaster among the positive ops - that will ultimately be worse than had he left them alone. To say that he "won the cold war" would indicate the poor knowledge of anyone who utters it - West Germany and BMWs did as much to convince the communists they had a bad system. Reagan helped in severl areas - but to credit him as the victor is just dumb. On balance he did some great things, but to paint his presidency so highly indicates a lack of perspective.
Domesticly he brought in a period of exessive consumerism and materialism that while it seemed great at the time, may prove to be an aspect of the US's undoing long term. S&L crisis, 1987 stock crash - these are all excesses that need no have happened.
Then again, although naively trusting people was one of his faults, he was a good man who earnestly tried to do the right thing - and personally was very balanced in key issues like Isreal - although those underneath him undercut him alot - Haig, Shultz and surprise, Wolfowitz, Rumsfeldt.
He did have a classy exit though - a horrible way to go.