Did President Bush’s address to the nation on the economy remind you of Jimmy Carter’s 1979 “malaise” speech?

Probably not if you remember Carter’s speech done to opera.

Here’s what that would sound like…

Here’s what she’s singing from the Carter ‘79 speech.  Follow the bouncing ball…

“…all the legislation in the world can’t fix what’s wrong with a fundamental threat to American democracy. The threat is nearly invisible in ordinary ways. It is a crisis of confidence. It is a crisis that strikes at the very heart and soul and spirit of our national will. We can see this crisis in the growing doubt about the meaning of our own lives and in the loss of a unity of purpose for our nation. The erosion of our confidence in the future is threatening to destroy the social and the political fabric of America. The confidence that we have always had as a people is not simply some romantic dream or a proverb in a dusty book that we read just on the Fourth of July.
We’ve always believed in something called progress. We’ve always had a faith that the days of our children would be better than our own. Our people are losing that faith, in government in the ability as citizens to serve as the ultimate rulers and shapers of our democracy. For the first time in the history of our country a majority of our people believe that the next five years will be worse than the past five years. Human identity is no longer defined by what one does, but by what one owns. But we’ve discovered material goods cannot fill the emptiness.
But it is the truth and it is a warning. These changes did not happen overnight. They’ve come upon us gradually over years that were filled with shocks and tragedy. These wounds are still very deep. They have never been healed.
It is a true challenge of this generation of Americans. Let your voice be heard. Let your voice be heard. Let your voice be heard. Whenever you have a chance, say something good about our country. Let us commit ourselves together to a rebirth of the American spirit. Working together with our common faith we cannot fail. Working together with our common faith we cannot fail. We cannot fail.”