So much for optimism

By Creature

A few posts down I made reference to the "optimistic president" and his "optimistic carpet." Both of these statements were based on a Washington Post puff piece from March where the president talked about his oval office rug and the optimism it instilled. The word optimism was used roughly six times to describe the man and his carpet. Ridiculous, to say the least. So today when I awoke to find this op-ed in the NY Times, I couldn't help but laugh. The irony is striking.

Part of Mr. Bush’s legacy may well be that he robbed America of its optimism — a force that Franklin Delano Roosevelt and other presidents, like Ronald Reagan, used to rally the country when it was deeply challenged. The next generation of leaders will have to resell discouraged Americans on the very idea of optimism, and convince them again that their goal should not be to live with their ailments, but to cure them.

Sad, but true. The strained pessimistic psyche of America is only one small causality of the presidency that is forty-three.

Read more from the NYT.

(Cross-posted at State of the Day.)