Forget parties and sides, should the president just be more positive?

[Mosier]

@Bryan_Ekers

The president should be using all possible mechanical advantage to lift America from the depths of lies and fabrications.
He must use the pulley bull-pit!

Zing!

[Great_Antibob]

@ultrafilter

There is some debate as to whether rational expectations gets the details right, but to the best of my knowledge, there’s no serious disagreement that something like this is happening. Of course, the public’s expectations regarding the economy do involve a bit more than what the president says…

The OP hardly falls under rational expectations. Saying “my economic plan will lead to recovery” is vastly different from “Go USA! Little US flags and puppies for everybody!”

The ‘rational’ part of rational expectations means that just stating positive things isn’t enough, which is what the OP is suggesting.

So, maybe I overstated my case on expectations, but I did so under the context of just saying positive things for their own sake, rather than backing those up with some kind of plan or model. I can’t think of any President who didn’t try to back up their case with some kind of model or plan (what currently happens). That’s vastly different from expecting an upbeat and positive attitude to be contagious (what the OP suggests).

And there’s still no evidence that positive thinking alone has any impact on the national stage. So, no, I still don’t see the merit of the OPs debate.

[Marley23]

@sparky_1

I really think a lot of what is going on with our economy has to do with mind-set; there seems to be this expectation of failing.

That’s correct, and expectations always have a lot to do with the state of the economy. But positive talk from the president won’t fix it. Almost everybody likes having smoke blown up their asses, but the problem here is not some kind of vague negativity or a lack of confidence in how super duper awesome America is. People want jobs, and they want to be sure their jobs aren’t going away. Businesses want to sell more stuff and they want better access to credit. Pep talks alone won’t fix this. People and businesses need to see more evidence things are actually getting better.

I wish our President would make a point each time before speaking to just say how great the USA is. I really think that that, beyond policy, would actually cause a change.

It wouldn’t. As it is, politicians are practically required to spend a lot of time on empty rhetoric about the greatness of America and everything America-related lest they be accused of being depressing or not liking America enough.

[Buck_Godot]

Not to bring the parties into this, but I like the way Obama seems to be handling this. He seems to be promoting current realism but future optimism. Rather than just being Rah Rah Rah, USA is the best, everything is swell, go out and buy more chotskies. Instead he is behaving like a coach in the locker room whose team is down 21 to 10 at half time. Indicating that yes things are bad now, but we’ve been through worse and with a lot of hard work and sacrifice we can come out on top again.

The last thing Americans need is more ego puffing that just because they are Americans they are better than everyone else. That level of arrogance leads no where good.

[bobot]

@sparky_1

…
I wish our President would make a point each time before speaking to just say how great the USA is. I really think that that, beyond policy, would actually cause a change.

Isn’t that what the lapel pin is for? POTUS gave in to the silly thing, and now wears one.

[bobot]

Really Not All That Bright, I see you beat me to the lapel pin punch…Maybe I should read the threads before posting.