Many historians point to Jimmy Carter's notorious "malaise" speech as the beginning of the end of his less than successful presidency. While it was fairly well received at the time[1] it set the tone for the remainder of his term and helped to usher in Ronald Reagan in a landslide.
Now it looks like the Vice Cackler, Kamala Harris, has pulled that speech out of the rubbish heap and delivered her own malaise speech.
During her speech where she insisted that the January 6 Capitol riot was comparable to 9/11 and Pearl Harbor (no, really. you just have to squint real hard to see it), she decided to echo the former president and cite "malaise" as the primary drag on the United States.
The times are similar. We are experience a Carter-like energy crisis (which like Carter, are exacerbated by old Joe's policies), rising inflation (also made worse by the actions of both Carter and old Joe), and a sour national mood. Carter badly bungled the rescue of the hostages in Iran causing old Joe to say "hold my ice cream cone" and give us the worst, most humiliating disaster since WWII in his series of cluster FUBARs that was the Afghanistan bug out.
More and more it looks like history is repeating itself (the Democrats are talking about price controls again), but is there a Republican in the wings that can pick up the pieces and actually, to borrow a phrase, build back better like Reagan did?
1. As the Boston Globe explained: "Carter’s popularity grew briefly after his remarks, his poll numbers swiftly sank back to low levels that reflected the real malaise in his administration."
Now it looks like the Vice Cackler, Kamala Harris, has pulled that speech out of the rubbish heap and delivered her own malaise speech.
During her speech where she insisted that the January 6 Capitol riot was comparable to 9/11 and Pearl Harbor (no, really. you just have to squint real hard to see it), she decided to echo the former president and cite "malaise" as the primary drag on the United States.
There has been great progress. No doubt, COVID, for example, I mean, we’re all -- well, everybody is frustrated with that. And I understand and I fully appreciate there is a level of malaise. We’re two years into this thing. People are -- we want to get back to normal. We all do. But we have to then do the tough and hard work of pushing through with solutions, understanding that there are going to be challenges, but let’s meet the challenges where they are. And let’s also take a moment to see the progress we have achieved
The times are similar. We are experience a Carter-like energy crisis (which like Carter, are exacerbated by old Joe's policies), rising inflation (also made worse by the actions of both Carter and old Joe), and a sour national mood. Carter badly bungled the rescue of the hostages in Iran causing old Joe to say "hold my ice cream cone" and give us the worst, most humiliating disaster since WWII in his series of cluster FUBARs that was the Afghanistan bug out.
More and more it looks like history is repeating itself (the Democrats are talking about price controls again), but is there a Republican in the wings that can pick up the pieces and actually, to borrow a phrase, build back better like Reagan did?
1. As the Boston Globe explained: "Carter’s popularity grew briefly after his remarks, his poll numbers swiftly sank back to low levels that reflected the real malaise in his administration."
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