(Tim) Back in 1987, I found this comment about Ronald Reagan's 1984 presidential campaign interesting enough that I filed it for future reference. If this is what they had to say about Ronald Reagan, imagine what they could do with Barack Obama's "Time for Change" were they so inclined. But of course, they aren't.
The 1984 Reagan campaign ad from TV with the line "It’s morning in America again," …conjures up pure atmosphere rather than any specific political aim or accomplishment. It refers to feeling good rather than to doing anything good--not to mention being good. (In our culture, the swift decline in recent years of the idea of "guilt," as an unwelcome leftover from our Puritan legacy, seems to have been followed in short order by a less noticed decline in the idea of accomplishment.)
Unfortunately, a notable characteristic of feeling good (or of feeling bad, for that matter) is its very loose connection with anything outside the one doing the feeling. (“Notes and Comment”, The New Yorker, January 19, 1987)
