The “teflon presidency” era of Ronald Reagan is in its final months, and it’s only a matter of days before we discover who will step into the Oval Office upon Reagan’s retirement.

Reagan surely will leave behind him the legacy of having been one of the most popular of American presidents while in office. Public assessment of his performance after having left office has yet to be seen. But if the public is as kind to Reagan in the future as it was to him in 1980 and 1984, the president should rest assured of a comfortable niche in American history.

But this success of Reagan’s is not necessarily a product of his own skill—unless you include among his skills deviousness and luck.

President Reagan was dubbed the “teflon” president for his knack of slipping out of the way of blame whenever something went awry in his administration. Among his more colorful quotes (besides calling the USSR the “Evil Empire”) is “I don’t remember”—apparently an excuse for screwups that many Americans buy into.

President Reagan has done some notable things for this country in his eight years at its helm. He brought the American economy back on its feet after guiding it through a damaging recession in 1982. In retrospect, although I did not agree with some of his tactics in the Persian Gulf and Libya, Reagan has done a fairly good job of making terrorists tow the line.

Another contribution of the Reagan Era was last December’s weapon-limiting Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces treaty with the Soviet Union. However, the president’s real role in the procuring of this agreement is highly questionable since he had balked for so long at arms reductions of any kind.

Which brings us to a rundown of the gaffes and goofs of the Reagan Administration. And their name is legion.

Relations with the USSR have only recently become less strained, because of the president’s clinging to his beloved “Star Wars” program. SDI is the major deterrent today to further negotiations with the Soviets. Reagan’s military expenditures have been atrocious, and his policies have been a wonderful boost to the federal deficit.

Reagan’s cabinet choices have been laughable, with a few exceptions. Remember James Watt, Al Haig and Ed Meese? Good God.

But perhaps the most important area in which President Reagan has been a disservice to this country has been in his administration’s honesty. Reagan closed his door in the face of the press (and consequently all Americans) during the ultra-secret Grenada operations five years ago. And two years ago this month, the greatest trial of his presidency came to light: the arms-for-hostages negotiations with Iran.

Reagan dodged the blame in these deals with a simple “I don’t remember.” Ollie North and Admiral Poindexter joined the ranks of Historical Bozos as their mentor munched on jellybeans at his ranch. And if Reagan’s allegations of memory loss and lack of information are true, then there has been a problem at least as great as honesty in the White House for two terms now.

In fact, there are rumors in certain Washington circles now that Reagan’s hostage wheeling and dealing began back in October of 1980 when he was campaigning against Jimmy Carter. Rumor has it that he may have undertaken secret swap negotiations even then to obtain the release of the hostages taken in November 1979.

These rumors have not yet been confirmed or denied. But they would, if true, explain why the Iranian hostages were released at the same hour Reagan took the oath of president, wouldn’t they?

Carter attempted a legitimate hostage rescue mission in April 1980 which failed, and he has been crucified ever since for bungling the Iranian crisis.

Nixon got nailed by Watergate in 1974. Reagan squeaked by Irangate in 1987.

I will remember Cowboy Ron as a great actor and a non-stick president.