Crisis of Confidence vs. Malaise Speech

Like Harvey Dent, this speech has two faces—and two titles that it goes by.

If you support President Carter's message, you might refer to it as the "Crisis of Confidence" speech. The crisis here is Americans' lack of faith in country and self. What's causing this lack of confidence? To put it simply, a culture of consumerism, a fear of hard work and an unwillingness to sacrifice. Carter thinks Americans need to deal with the oil crisis on a moral and spiritual level, in addition to a political and legislative one.

But the story isn't so simple.

Those who reject Carter's message, the yin to his "pull yourself up by your bootstraps" yang, refer to this moment by another name, the "Malaise Speech." They see Carter as a hater, and feel that his tone and his criticism is a real buzzkill. So they call it the "Malaise Speech" for the Monday morning vibes it puts out, insisting that the bright and sunny weekend will come out not with a changed attitude but with a changed leader, in this case a new President.