A Flag Planted in Malaise

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

Remember the presidential administration of Jimmy Carter?  It's understandable if you don't because it was short-lived, only one term, and it happened nearly fifty years ago - so many people who should remember it are perhaps too old now to remember much of anything.  

But my long-term memory is great and I do remember the remarkably nice couple from Georgia as they mucked about in the White House trying to remain relevant and vibrant during the onslaught of the Reagan campaign.  Carter struggled to lay the foundation for peace in the Middle East while dealing with a situation in which several dozen American hostages were held captive in Iran for well over a year (444 days).   He wore sweaters in the White House and put solar panels on top his official residence in order to draw attention to the burgeoning energy crisis, and was ridiculed by Republicans for his concerns with our energy independence and his focus on a sustainable future.

Americans just grew tired of their lot in the Carter years and wanted a return to happier times, something they felt that the smiling and enthusiastic Reagan could provide.  Jimmy Carter described the national mood at the time as one of "malaise," and thus many of us learned a new word:

Malaise:  A general feeling of discomfort, illness, or uneasiness whose exact cause is difficult to identify.

I felt it, I can remember feeling it.  Things weren't overwhelmingly bad, but they weren't good either, and when Jimmy Carter highlighted what we were feeling, we looked it up and decided he was right.  Change was needed, and in rode Reagan on his big, white, Hollywood high-horse.

There were some who felt that compared to the camera-savvy Reagan, Jimmy Carter was just too docile.   Americans were not looking for a quiet sermonette when they turned on their televisions, they wanted to find a raucous used car dealer urging them to "Come on down!"  We were on the cusp of reality television, but just didn't know it.

A half-century later reality television, social media over the internet, cell phones, and all manner of modern life have transformed and even corrupted the presidency, and the individuals who run and serve bear few similarities to Jimmy Carter and earlier presidents.  Now many voters don't even pretend to be influenced by policy positions.  They are focused on candidates' stunts and outlandish behaviors far more than they are on issues, and its not unusual to see voters blindly following candidates whose known positions on issues are actually at odds with those same voters' self-interests.

This year we have two candidates for the presidency who both appear to already have a lock on their party's nominations.  Both are elderly men who are too old to be serving in such a demanding job - they just are - and one of the two comes across as being unhealthy and perhaps even suffering some cognitive impairments.

But the other comes across as Eisenhower - okay, perhaps that is a stretch too far back in time - let's say Jimmy Carter, instead.  He is calm, relaxed (almost to a fault), and steady-Eddie dependable, while his likely opponent is a firecracker with a lit fuse who tends to explode everywhere he goes.  The press gravitates toward the firecracker because he's unpredictable and exciting and they just can't help themselves.   And the voters, who are already slathered in a thick coating of malaise, are ready for any change that will rock their world - even if that change is a well known conman who held the job before and claims to have been cheated out of it.  

We are in a new time and it's a new world.  I wish that weren't true, but it is.  Politicians are transporting migrant human beings and refugees across borders as if they are cattle going to market, people with Bible School educations are telling other people what their children can and cannot read, real estate agents are telling doctors how to practice medicine, and members of Congress are waving dick picks around in committee hearings and groping their boyfriends in public venues.  Americans aren't concerned with where candidates stand on the issues, they want to know whether they are trending or not.

Slow and steady won't win this race, Joe.  It just won't.  If you are absolutely committed to running for re-election, you are going to have to do it in a way that will draw the cameras away from Humpty-Trumpty.   If you can't amp it up, wrap it up - and let somebody grab the nomination who can actually run with it.

A flag planted in malaise is going to topple.

It just is.