ABSTRACT
People are starting to talk about Malaise again, that pale sickly hue and spiritual unease last apparent during the Jimmy Carter years. While Ronald Reagan was president, nobody talked malaise. As Irving Kristol has written, President Reagan knew two things well and believed in them devoutly: that the American people are nationalists in foreign affairs and like to lead; and that they believe in economic growth, work, risks, and opportunity-but not in governmental meddling, taxation, and income redistribution. George Bush has now shown that he never grasped the symbolic meaning of the Reagan Revolution. Sandwiched between Carter and Bush, Ronald Reagan is going to look better and better in the history books. In a word, Bush has abdicated from the only great power a president has, symbolic power. He refuses to put himself on the line for a vision that the people can live by. He approaches the presidency like a tinkerer or a bargainer.
