These are better days, just not for America right nowAmericans feel down right now. Unhappy with our current leaders, we've not yet fallen in love with any prospective presidential candidates. The world seems more challenging than ever, with plenty of scary news out of the Islamic world hitting us amidst record oil prices. Most humbling, as our economy teeters on the edge of its first serious recession in decades, our rescuing "cavalry" turns out to be foreign wealth funds!
As historical ages go, we've downshifted from the "gilded" to the "gelded" in the blink of an exhausting occupation. Feeling broke and lonely, we no longer seem masters of any universe. Instead, we distrust globalization, our historical gift to the world, more than ever. In our popular imagination, we spot looming catastrophes around every corner, with each new sci-fi movie seemingly resulting in New York City's destruction.
Wish we could get back to where we once belonged?
Read on at KnoxNews.
Read on at Scripps Howard.
I put the original headline above. Scripps Howard re-headed it 'Reasons to feel optimistic' and KnoxNews re-headed it 'Better days, just not right now', neither of which is as good, in my opinion.
Comments (1)
Tom,
Brilliant column!
You just gave Americans 15 reasons why we should be looking to our future, and not watching the garbage floating in our wake and dreaming of yesterday's over-indulgent party.
This information sounds like it could have come from a "Fireside chat" made famous by one of our great leaders in time of crisis.
As you point out, Americans sense we lack that kind of leadership at this momment in our history.
Posted by historyguy99 | February 3, 2008 11:29 AM