Can Obama find his morning in America?
By E.J. Dionne Jr.
WashPost
Sunday, December 12, 2010
American decline is the specter haunting our politics. This could be President Obama's undoing - or it could provide him with the opportunity to revive his presidency.
Fear of decline is an old American story. Declinism ran rampant in the late 1970s and early '80s. Stagflation, the Iranian hostage crisis, anxiety over Japan's bid for economic dominance and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan all seemed to be symbols of a United States no longer in control of its destiny.
These apprehensions dissipated in the 1980s and, whatever the shortcomings of his policies, Ronald Reagan presided over a restoration of American morale. His 1984 "Morning in America" advertisement was politically brilliant, but it was also a paean to a renewed American confidence.
George H.W. Bush followed, and he deserves great credit for his management of the Persian Gulf War and the larger international transition after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Bill Clinton built on Bush's unpopular but necessary budget and restored the federal government's solvency while also serving as a careful steward of American influence and our image in the world. Charles Krauthammer, my Post columnist colleague, likes to refer to the 1990s as a "holiday from history," but the truth is that American power reached its zenith under Clinton. If that was a holiday, we need more vacations like it.
(More here.)
WashPost
Sunday, December 12, 2010
American decline is the specter haunting our politics. This could be President Obama's undoing - or it could provide him with the opportunity to revive his presidency.
Fear of decline is an old American story. Declinism ran rampant in the late 1970s and early '80s. Stagflation, the Iranian hostage crisis, anxiety over Japan's bid for economic dominance and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan all seemed to be symbols of a United States no longer in control of its destiny.
These apprehensions dissipated in the 1980s and, whatever the shortcomings of his policies, Ronald Reagan presided over a restoration of American morale. His 1984 "Morning in America" advertisement was politically brilliant, but it was also a paean to a renewed American confidence.
George H.W. Bush followed, and he deserves great credit for his management of the Persian Gulf War and the larger international transition after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Bill Clinton built on Bush's unpopular but necessary budget and restored the federal government's solvency while also serving as a careful steward of American influence and our image in the world. Charles Krauthammer, my Post columnist colleague, likes to refer to the 1990s as a "holiday from history," but the truth is that American power reached its zenith under Clinton. If that was a holiday, we need more vacations like it.
(More here.)
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