The Trouble With Optimism

Everyone agreed during the recent Reaganalia that one of Ronald Reagan's best qualities was optimism. For Reagan's longtime supporters, optimism is a key element in the official hagiography. He lifted the atmosphere of doom and "malaise" perpetrated by his predecessor, Jimmy Carter. For those who did not especially admire the late president when he was alive, this was something nice they could say in all sincerity on the occasion of his death, instead of or as an introduction to what they really thought of him.

Reagan's death took what was already a festival of optimism in American politics and turned it into an orgy. Optimism has long been on every short list of "quintessentially American" qualities. After Reagan's two sweeping victories, it became a great cliche of political analysis as well: The more optimistic candidate almost always wins.

This insight is like those studies showing that the taller presidential candidate almost always wins (the 2004 election will be an interesting test of that one), with the crucial difference that you can't do much about your height. By contrast, you can ladle on the optimism all you want. Thanks to Reagan, optimism is now considered an essential ingredient of any presidential candidate's public self-presentation.

They all say they have it; their opponents accuse them of lacking it. A typical American politician would sooner admit to being a bigamist than a pessimist.

The climactic TV commercial in President Bush's spring saturation bombing campaign against Sen. John Kerry is titled "Pessimism" and begins with Bush declaring, "I'm optimistic about America because I believe in the people of America" -- a sentiment that would work equally well the other way around ("I believe in the people of America because I'm optimistic about America"). The ad then attempts to out Kerry as a pessimist, based on the fact that he talks about the Great Depression. "One thing's sure," Bush's ad notes. "Pessimism never created a job." Meanwhile, Kerry is running an ad titled "Optimists," asserting that he is as optimistic as the next guy.

Could there be an emptier claim made on behalf of someone hoping to lead the United States of America than to say that he is "optimistic"? Optimism may or may not be part of the American character, but it is pretty insufficient as either a campaign promise or a governing principle. If the objective situation calls for optimism, being optimistic isn't much of a trick or a distinction. If the objective situation calls for something closer to pessimism, the last thing we want is some Micawber whistling past the Treasury Department.