Ronald Reagan, Optimist

Did anyone else get the impression from watching the Reagan coverage that he was just so gosh darn optimistic? Cripes, I think the commentators must have been paid based on the number of times they talked about it. I guess they were sort of right, though:

"I have a feeling that we are doing better in the war [in Vietnam] than the people have been told."
--Ronald Reagan, in the Los Angeles Times, October 16, 1967