Have We Ever Enjoyed A Good Run?

For those of us who were around, Kennedy was a pretty good run.

North America was prospering, the middle clash was booming and if you forget the nasty stuff like The Cold War, segregation and future stuff like The Bay of Pigs and the Cuban Missile Crisis it was a time of unbridled optimism. And then along came The Beatles. What wasn't to like?

It's like your old man (Ike) was sent packing and the cool kid next door was taking over.

The Canadian counterpart was Pierre Trudeau in '68.

 

If he wore this to the Grey Cup, you can only imagine how he'd dress for a real night of mackin'.

 

This subject is the reason I'm increasingly convinced that it's almost irrelevant who becomes president.

Every administration has its disasters and achievements....some Americans will suffer and some will prosper. Is it possible for a country of this size and diversity to have a 'good run'? Someone is always going to be unhappy.

And in the meantime, in the tiny little history of this country, we've survived world wars and civil wars and illegal wars and really stupid wars...slavery and bigotry and depressions and recessions and oil shortages....rap music and Ann Coulter and the Colts leaving Baltimore.

Somehow, we just roll on. I have no idea how.

 

I was excited when I saw the title to this thread. I was going to say that just last Saturday, I did 5.5 miles in the park with the dog, it was a lovely day, I had some new Drive-By-Truckers in my MP3 mix ... but no, it's another political thread.
I would argue that "good runs" are only deemed so in retrospect. My father, a pretty conservative guy, nonetheless felt fond of FDR his whole life -- for most Americans who lived through the Depression and the war, this was a great, great president. But those also were the most trying times our nation has gone through since the Civil War -- presided over by another great president.
Maybe responding well to crisis creates a "great run"?
(The "well" part might explain why this presidency won't qualify).

 

I don't recall a lot of hemming and hawing in 1996.

 

Based on all the wool that he pulled while in the white house a good run is an understatement.
For the rest of the country he certainly did create a lot of optimisim.

I believe Obama has that ability also to create that same unbridled optimism.

Its more of a glass half full philosophy that I much prefer. It's something that Reagan was good at also.

On the other hand you have politicians like Hillary always telling us what's wrong with the country and bringing us down.

 

Reagan was the best at portraying the glass as half full even if it were three-quarters empty.

 

One of the best speeches RR ever gave was at the 1976 RNC after Ford had won the nomination. Think that will happen at the DNC? I never voted for the guy, but RR could bring it on the stump.

First election I remember was 1964. Goldwater scared me. I think it was the 'Daisy' TV spot, but I'm not sure. I just remember thinking bad things would happen if he was elected.

 

"The long-predicted energy crisis has come. It is no longer something that experts say will happen sometime in the future. It is here. It is now."


That was written for President Carter in 1979.

It was forgotten in 1980.

http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/jimmycarterundeliveredenergyspeech.htm

I cannot tell you how facinating of a read this speech is.

Carter had the right idea. Too bad America didn't listen.