Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Today In History: Malaise.

On this date, thirty years ago, President Jimmy Carter delivered his famous whingeing attempt at a pep talk to the nation:
I want to talk to you right now about a fundamental threat to American democracy... I do not refer to the outward strength of America, a nation that is at peace tonight everywhere in the world, with unmatched economic power and military might...

The threat is nearly invisible in ordinary ways. It is a crisis of confidence. It is a crisis that strikes at the very heart and soul and spirit of our national will. We can see this crisis in the growing doubt about the meaning of our own lives and in the loss of a unity of purpose for our nation.

In a nation that was proud of hard work, strong families, close-knit communities, and our faith in God, too many of us now tend to worship self-indulgence and consumption. Human identity is no longer defined by what one does, but by what one owns. But we've discovered that owning things and consuming things does not satisfy our longing for meaning.

I'm asking you for your good and for your nation's security to take no unnecessary trips, to use carpools or public transportation whenever you can, to park your car one extra day per week, to obey the speed limit, and to set your thermostats to save fuel... I have seen the strength of America in the inexhaustible resources of our people. In the days to come, let us renew that strength in the struggle for an energy-secure nation.
The result of the public whimpering was to send his approval numbers soaring to a stratospheric 37% in the polls. A less direct result was the Reagan landslide.

Let's see if Barry commemorates the occasion today. We need a good cheering up, and lord knows that smug pinkos seem to think that waving a sanctimonious finger in our faces is the way to do it.

19 comments:

Jay G said...

Hey, give 0bama props. He kicked his teleprompter habit...

Well, not really, but one did go craashing to the ground...

Fuzzy Curmudgeon said...

People were certainly sick and tired of Jimmah Cahtuh and his downer presidency, but in fairness, the icing on the cake that was the Reagan landslide was the Iranian hostage crisis and Jimmah's total mishandling of same.

Desert One was the straw that broke the camel's back.

the pawnbroker said...

i remember it well.

the anticipation of a speech that would change the course of spiraling inflation and interest rates combined with deadinthewater economic growth was huge...and i believed. i had supported jimmah as one of us and wanted so badly for him -and us- to succeed.

afterwards i felt crushing disappointment and foreboding; and if there wasn't a national malaise before, there was now. i have called myself one of the reagan republicans before, but in retrospect i believe it was that speech, and the fear and desperation in carter's face and voice, that turned me.

soon after, iran put the lie to the words about peace and strength, and there is no doubt that that episode nailed the final spikes in carter's -and the liberals'- coffin. reagan could not have been in a better place in time for his success and the nation's salvation.

it's different now. it's not liberalism that is taking us fast and furious down the path of destruction, but socialism pure and simple.

reaganism in the 1980's saved the nation as surely as did the generation of ww11. who -or what- will it be in the 2010's? must our entire system of capitalism and (relatively) limited government collapse before we refocus on our guiding light? and who will hold it high for all to see? hint: it ain't anybody currently on the national scene.

but who ? and when?

jtc

Joanna said...

The whole point of being born in the '80s was that you didn't have to put up with this shit. That seems to have worked out well ...

Tam said...

Sorry 'bout that. :o

jimbob86 said...

BO's recipe is the same as the Dems of the 60's and 70's: Make the reward for working hard equal to the reward for not doing so..... only he wants to implement it in 2 years instead of 20.

Steve Skubinna said...

To be fair, if there's anyone who could speak with authority on lacking confidence, it'd be Jimmy Carter.

Since leaving office, the only topic upon which he has any confidence at all is that America is always on the wrong side of any issue.

Rob K said...

Too many born in the 80s and 90s, not remembering Carter, brought us Carter 2. You can tell them it'll be just like Carter, but do they listen? Do they even care?

Joanna said...

I cared (1983). I screamed bloody murder. But, unfortunately, most of my peers slept through history and got their news from MTV (or MSNBC, I can't decide which is worse), so they just know Carter as "that misunderstood guy who builds houses for poor people and hates racists in the Middle East." Feh.

Rob K said...

I didn't mean to imply that you in particular didn't. Sorry if it came across that way.

I'm very glad that I remember Carter because the best part of remembering Carter is remembering Reagan.

Old Grouch said...

At the end of Carter's term, Jeff MacNelly did a wonderful "Official Portrait" for The American Spectator's February, 1981 issue. Couldn't find it on line (may be buried behind the paywall at the Spectator's archives), but did find this quote from Thomas Sowell:

Dear sir:
MacNelly’s portrait of President Carter is the most merciless, cruelest thing I’ve ever seen.

Where can I get a copy?


I may have saved that issue; have to dig through the archives this evening.

-------
TW: ingeeper
Tree frog who runs a motel?

Anonymous said...

You know Jimmah is just sitting back hoping for the change when he’s not the modern benchmark for failure.

Joanna said...

RobK: I know. I was just pointing out that I was the exception.

Stupid Millennials.

Anonymous said...

I bought a small business in 1980 and remember 22% interest rates high unemployment and high gas prices thanks to carter. Hope and change from bo appears to be a repeat of carter. We need a conservative to restore sanity to the country, sadly I don't see one.
Fred

mts1 said...

I think the photos of the Killer Rabbit terrorizing him on the lake were the final straw.

New Jovian Thunderbolt said...

History's greatest monster.

NotClauswitz said...

Carter befriended Arafat and saw in him a allay (and a means to a quick Nobel Prize). Arafat who inherited his uncle's "Business" - a Jerusalem OG who went up to DerVaterland (to avoid the Brits) and worked with Schickelgruber to help design and implement the Final Solution.
That Carter.

Darrell said...

At least Carter had the good graces to sit down and shut up after he left office. 8-)

rickn8or said...

"and hates (Israeli) racists in the Middle East."

Left out a word.

Darrell--

After Bush left office, you mean.

wv: barryo-- oh, crap, he's EVERYWHERE!