Ah, the Malaise Speech, now that takes us back.

Cartoon; Pickering’s current ‘Whitlam cartoon’ draws attention to the similarity between the US and here.

In 1976 the American people were in a mood for change and were ready to vote for someone who could promise them hope. The Democrats put up a relatively unknown populist from Georgia as nominee, and with the assistance of sycophantic, uncritical, and groveling press coverage Jimmy Carter was elected. The rest is history, four years downhill.

It is assumed that protocols were put in place to ensure that such a thing could never happen again. (Just kidding, guys.)

Today is the 32nd anniversary of his ‘Malaise speech’, shown here with some uncanny modern parallels: