Jan 20, 2009 1:21pm
More on Malaise
EmailBefore I am too badly beaten-up for comparing President Obama to Jimmy Carter, despite how history has treated the Carter "malaise speech," in truth it was a powerful call to action, laced with what he believed to be sober truth. Not unlike the speech today.
More from Carter:
"We’ve got to stop crying and start sweating, stop talking and start walking, stop cursing and start praying. The strength we need will not come from the White House, but from every house in America."
And how about this from President Obama?
"Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America."
I think what is remarkable is how America seems to be ready to hear about reality in more real terms.
USS Gabrielle Giffords Honors Courage 
Mitt Romney's Full Speech at CPAC 2012
You could equally compare the ‘malaise’ approach to Reagan’s first two paragraphs.
“The business of our nation goes forward. These United States are confronted with an economic affliction of great proportions. We suffer from the longest and one of the worst sustained inflations in our national history. It distorts our economic decisions, penalizes thrift, and crushes the struggling young and the fixed-income elderly alike. It threatens to shatter the lives of millions of our people. 3
Idle industries have cast workers into unemployment, causing human misery and personal indignity. Those who do work are denied a fair return for their labor by a tax system which penalizes successful achievement and keeps us from maintaining full productivity.”
Posted by: Steve MacLean | January 20, 2009, 1:46 pm 1:46 pm
Jimmy WHO?
Posted by: JR | January 20, 2009, 1:51 pm 1:51 pm