Zbigniew Brzenzinski: Use of M-word Brings Back Pain of Carter Years
Zbig says MALAISE, couldn't be prouder; if you can't hear him, he'll say it a little louder
Zbigniew Brzezinski, Jimmy Carter’s National Security Advisor, was on MSNBC’s The Morning Joe and let slip the M-word. That would be “malaise.” For those who lived through 1977-80, the word brought all of the pain of the Carter Years rushing back.
WHAT’S THAT YOU’RE SAYING?
MALAISE
Amazingly, a member of the Carter administration said the M-word–on national television this past week–and suddenly, for anyone who’d lived through the four years of economic and political hell that were the Carter Years, it all came rushing back.
Allah, Video: Jimmy Carter’s NSA actually uses the word “malaise” to describe national mood under Obama:
“Is Brzezinski so clueless about his own boss’s legacy and liberals’ sensitivity to it as to stumble into this choice of phrase, or is he obliquely drawing the comparison deliberately for whatever insane reason? Lucky for him and his party that he’s as relatively obscure now as he is; had a more prominent Dem said this, the RNC’s soundbite machine would be in hog heaven.”
1977-1980 were a painful a time for those who had to find work, pay bills and raise children. Inflation went up so fast that a can of soup would sometimes have five different price tags, stamped one over the over, as grocery stores tried to keep up with the madcap escalator of price increases.
U.S. foreign policy was a ruins of “weak horse diplomacy”–much as it is today under Barack Obama. U.S. allies ran for cover; American enemies couldn’t believe their good fortune at finding a weak-willed man (and his like-minded advisors, including Brzezinski) in charge in the White House.
Among Carter’s foreign policy triumphs which still shine today: the Islamic Republic of Iran–which was turned from U.S. ally on his watch to sworn enemy–and the corrupt, gangster regime of Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe.
But, it was Carter’s feckless domestic policy which was the crown jewel. Inflation ran rampant, as did unemployment. When Americans grumbled, Carter took to the airwaves to accuse the country of “malaise.”
Just as another Dear Leader is doing today.
For Brzezinski to remind folks of that painful period in American history is a bit incredible. If any one word is shorthand for the Carter Years, “malaise” might well be that word.
Of course, the pain of Carter made possible the rebuilding of the country under Ronald Reagan in 1980–despite the numerous, daily attempts of the Mainstream Media to smear Reagan as “crazy,” “naive” and a “dangerous cowboy.”
Much like the media does today whenever they write of Sarah Palin.
See what memories come rushing back by just the mere utterance of the M-word?
NOTE: In fairness, Jimmy Carter did have one worthwhile accomplishment: the deregulation of the airlines. Hard to believe, but up until the deregulation, the federal government set the price of tickets on all flights. With deregulation, the federal government was forced out of the airline business–which it knew nothing about. (In 2010, the federal government is now in the car business.)
That action resulted in making air travel much more affordable to all.
Whether readers think that is a good thing or bad depends on how often they fly.
by Mondo Frazier
images: DBKP file
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