Past and Present: 'Malaise' and the Energy Crisis

President Carter poses before his energy conservation speech.

In the end, Carter dropped the ball. He didn't have the requisite political skills to work with Congress and get things moving. His presidency was such damaged goods that few would work with him. He didn't think long term enough to figure out how to implement the policies he had set out. But in his failure, he left behind a possibility. He left behind a way of talking about the country's promise and its need to confront what is undoubtedly one of its biggest challenges—to solve the energy crisis in a way that takes seriously both our limits and our greatness.

Kevin Mattson teaches history at Ohio University and is author most recently of Rebels All!: A Short History of the Conservative Mind in Postwar America. He's writing a book about Jimmy Carter's 1979 "Crisis of Confidence" speech.