Twitter
Facebook
Reddit
Digg
Tell us what you think!Send a letter to the editor about this or any other article in The Maine Campus.
The West Wing stood still as President Barack Obama delivered his State of the Union speech Tuesday night. The work of many staffers over many months culminated into this one master oration.
In the State of the Union, President Obama attempted to motivate the American people. He called the times we live in a “Sputnik moment,” referencing the Soviet satellite which prompted the Space Race and became the pinnacle of American innovation. On the surface, motivating the American people seems like a safe move. Many American presidents have used this tactic, and some attempts have been much more successful than others.
Obama attempted to motivate the American people in the same way former President John F. Kennedy did in his inaugural address in 1961. When JFK famously told the country to “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country,” few recognized the impact that statement would have on the future of the United States. Many in Kennedy’s inner circle will tell you they had no idea that the line would be as successful as it was.
During the Energy Crisis of 1979, former President Jimmy Carter also used this tactic, much less famously. He declared in a special address to the nation which would later be known as the Malaise Address, “We’ve got to stop crying and start sweating, stop talking and start walking, stop cursing and start praying. The strength we need will not come from the White House, but from every house in America.”
Carter’s speech flopped. What he called a “Crisis of Confidence,” many Americans considered to be a crisis of leadership, mainly from the White House.
Any politician worth their weight would now be asking themselves what it was Kennedy did differently than Carter. It’s one question the Obama Administration should be, and probably is, asking themselves right now. They should find that it wasn’t the language they used in the speech, but the two presidents’ differing ways of attacking the problems of their time that made their discourses different.
Within months of giving his inaugural address, President Kennedy would announce his support for the Apollo program and begin an unprecedented expansion of the space program. He would make investments in the famous innovation the space program honed, the same one Obama spoke of on Tuesday. Kennedy not only tapped Americans’ best efforts, but he provided them with the tools they needed to get ahead of the rest of the world.
Carter, unlike Kennedy, gave us nothing to work toward. Three days after giving the Malaise speech, he went on to fire his entire cabinet and hire a chief of staff, something he said he would not do on the campaign trail. These actions, in the midst of a crisis, did not give the American people confidence in his leadership, and they did not reward him with another term.
The perception among Americans was that Carter did not deal with the problems America faced, and he was putting the blame on the citizens.
Obama needs to keep in mind why Kennedy’s call to service was so effective. What made Kennedy’s phrase so famous was not the mere rhetoric that he spoke, but the way those words complimented the new generation Kennedy ushered in. Obama’s actions need to compliment the words he spoke on Tuesday.
If President Obama is to follow Kennedy’s path, he needs to follow through with the initiatives he mentioned. Investments in the production of clean energy, high speed rail, our schools and our infrastructure are what will allow him to do just that. These are the Sputnik-like challenges that face our generation today.
Pete Christopher is a fourth-year secondary education student. His political columns will appear every Thursday.
