Pragmatism..............

      Baker also recognized that while Reagan talked in black and white, he governed in gray.  For all of the conservatives chanting about "let Reagan be Reagan," Baker saw time and again a president who was more pragmatic that some of his supporters assumed.  "I'd rather get 80 percent of what I want that go over the cliff with my flag flying," Reagan told Baker repeatedly.  Holding out for some pure version of policy or principle was not Reagan's way.  He was willing to take what he could get, then come back and get more the next time.  Sometimes he even took a few steps backward in interest of moving ahead another day.  "That was Ronald Reagan," said Jim Cicconi, a White House aide to Baker.  "He was the labor negotiator and he was a very principled conservative  but he believed in getting things done and he recognized that in a democracy you can't have your way 100 percent of the time."

-Peter Baker and Susan Glasser, The Man Who Ran Washington:  The Life and Times of James A. Baker III