The Blaze
One a peanut farmer from Georgia, the other a Hawaiian Harvard law grad, before entering politics President Obama and former President Jimmy Carter came from extremely different backgrounds. That said, an increasing number of commentators and political opponents have made the comparison between Obama and Carter administrations. This Friday, Conservative commentator Laura Ingraham aired a scary ‘remix’ of Jimmy Carter’s infamous “Malaise Speech” over recent lackluster Obama rhetoric.
Friday marked the 32-year-anniversary of Jimmy Carter’s “crisis of confidence” later pegged “malaise speech,” a national-telivised and ill-recieved address trying to combat what Carter saw as apathy and doubt among Americans concerning politics and the energy crisis. In the days following the speech Carter fired cabinet members, feeling that his administration failed to capitalize on a window of opportunity, which some believe was the beginning of the end for Carter and his ability to appear as a strong and significant leader.
Thirty-two years later another first term Democratic president faces a crisis of continued economic decline and failure to bridge heated political differences from Capital Hill to Main Street. Ingraham’s audio suggests that like Carter, Obama is failing to step up as a strong and believable leader in the eyes of Americans looking to him in a time of crisis.
