David Shribman writes on how the voting public has historically favored candidates who project optimism about what can be done, where-ever they may stand on ideology or specific policies.
The contrast between the use of optimism and pessimism in politics was on full display in the last century. The pessimists included Herbert Hoover, Richard Nixon and Jimmy Carter. The optimists included Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, Reagan and Bill Clinton. The optimists won, hands down, even though TR once warned, in his 1907 annual message to Congress, that if optimism is "carried to an excess, it becomes foolishness."
As one who believes we have the means to protect and provide for every human life at every stage and condition, defend freedom and enable it to maximize the potential for every human being to grow and prosper, and provide for the future of humanity by adopting innovative technological breakthroughs and expanding the human sphere beyond our planet of origin, this makes sense to me. I hope the candidates who share my views are effective in projecting that optimism.
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