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Perhaps this trend started in early June with the death
of Ronald Reagan. Pundits searched for good things to say
about him and often found optimism
among his
virtues. Shortly thereafter, someone important proclaimed
that in all American presidential elections, the candidate
who displays the most optimism will win.
Since then, we've been subjected to a barrage of commercials which attempts to portray John Kerry as an optimist and George Bush as a pessimist, or Bush as a sunny optimist and Kerry as a dour pessimist.
For instance, there was a spot which started with a
narrator who intoned, behind the image of a frowning Kerry,
Pessimism never created a job.
Then comes our upbeat
President Bush: I'm optimistic about America because I
believe in the people of America.
Does all this mean anything?
You have to start with the premise that anyone running for president is an optimist, in the sense that he believes things can get better in the future -- if he is elected, of course.
Nobody is going to campaign on Our country is sliding
downhill. Our economy is collapsing, most of the world
hates us, disease and poverty are growing, more and more
Americans are fat and lazy, and there's nothing we can do
about it, and so you should elect me.
In other words, even Ralph Nader, who can appear as gloomy as a winter overcast, is optimistic -- he certainly sees problems, but he also proposes ways to fix them.
But how much optimism is appropriate? When Winston Churchill became prime minister of Great Britain in 1940, his nation's very survival was threatened by Germany, which was bombing London and threatening an invasion.
Churchill did not talk about his optimism. He said his
country faced an immense challenge and a hard struggle, and
he had nothing to offer but blood, tears, toil and
sweat.
In other words, he was honest with the British
people about what lay ahead.
That was Britain, though, and it should be noted that Churchill was turned out of office after the war.
In this country, does the most optimistic presidential candidate always win? Four years ago, it was pretty much a dead heat. In 1996, well, just about anybody could sound more optimistic than Bob Dole, who came across as an old grump even though he had a marvelous sense of humor.
In 1992, Bill Clinton beat an incumbent by constantly
pointing out that We can do better than this
--
certainly a more optimistic message than Bush the Elder
grumbling about Bozo and Ozone.
But in 1988, Bush
the Elder positively glowed in comparison to dour Mike
Dukakis. And then we're back to Ronald Reagan, the Supreme
Optimist, who got into the White House by defeating Jimmy
National Malaise
Carter.
So maybe there's something to the Greater Optimist
Theory of Presidential Politics, at least in the past
quarter-century. Go back much farther, and you run into
people like Calvin Looks like he was weaned on a
pickle
Coolidge and Thomas I tremble for my country
when I reflect that God is just
Jefferson.
Given the current trend, though, we'll doubtless be subjected to more explanations coming from various spin doctors which detail how their candidate is the more optimistic fellow, and therefore deserving of our vote.
But on a personal economic level, I'm worse off than I was four years ago, and so are most of my friends here. Even so, there might be grounds for optimism, based on what I learned from a printer about 25 years ago.
He was in the habit of eating breakfast every day at Neil's Cafe, a diner in downtown Salida that closed long ago. To put it mildly, Neil's did not enjoy a reputation for excellent food. Just walking by the place could make your arteries start clogging, and the coffee made you wonder whether the old creosote plant north of town had resumed production.
So I asked him why he ate there every morning.
It means I can handle whatever happens at the print
shop that day,
he explained, because When you start
your day at Neil's, you know the rest of the day has to be
an improvement.
That seems like a possible reason to be optimistic; after the past four years, just about anything has to be an improvement.
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