It was 30 years ago today that Jimmy Carter delivered his famous (or maybe infamous) "malaise" speech--which, of course, did not contain the word "malaise." The full text of the speech can be found here. Reading it over, it's hard to object to much of its actual content, but it's not difficult to see how the tone of the speech might have thrown people for a loop--especially Carter's rhapsodizing about "the extraordinary ten days" he spent before the speech talking to Americans about the nation's "crisis of confidence." It's almost too personal.
--Jason Zengerle