The Party of Malaise

30 Years ago a befuddled and deeply pessimistic Jimmy Carter gave his famous malaise speech.  The American people evaluated their sad sack President and decided to replace him with someone who actually believed in them.  Here we are again with another, albeit smoother sad sack in the White House.  And I believe the American people will tell him to buck up too, by sending him on a well deserved and long golfing vacation.

Leadership matters.

Does it feel like the country is falling apart now? Thirty-two years ago today, it seemed a lot worse when President Jimmy Carter delivered his famous “malaise” speech in which he seemed to blame the country’s problems on the people rather than their leaders. While Carter didn’t actually use the word “malaise” in the speech, his deep pessimism about America and its place in the world was an apt symbol of his failed presidency, especially in light of the resurgent optimism that characterized the national spirit in the years his successor Ronald Reagan sat in the White House.

The main point of his speech was the energy crisis of 1979 and his championing of measures such as import quotas and possible gas rationing. These ideas turned off more Americans than his attempt to rally them to embrace shared sacrifice. Carter’s talk about a “crisis of confidence” spoke louder about his own beliefs than that of the country. But reading the speech again today, what also strikes me is how similar Carter’s rhetoric sounds to some statements President Obama has made recently.