"It's morning again in America."
The soothing voice-over opening line of the 1984 television commercial for the re-election bid of Republican President Ronald Reagan attempted to convey to voters that the dark days of high inflation and high employment under former Democratic President Jimmy Carter were gone. The ad showed images of people going to work as the sun rose, the implication being that the president had helped direct the nation back toward full employment.
Donald Trump was elected president less than a month ago, and voters and supporters want to believe a similar "morning in America" is afoot.
We hope they're right. We like the signs, but we're aware the nation is as bitterly divided as it has been for nearly 50 years. And where the Republican and Democratic parties compromised under Reagan for legislation to benefit the whole country, no such compromise seems in the offing for the president-elect.
Still, the stock market is soaring. Just last week, Carrier agreed to keep 1,000 manufacturing jobs it had planned to move to Mexico in Indianapolis. Last month, Ford decided to keep its Lincoln MKC production line in Louisville, Ky., rather than moving it to Mexico as it had announced days earlier.
"We are encouraged that President-elect Donald Trump and the new Congress will pursue policies that will improve U.S. competitiveness and make it possible to keep production of this vehicle here in the United States," company Chairman Bill Ford said in a statement.
Trump, other than offering supportive words, probably had little to do with either manufacturer's decision. But they, like other individuals and businesses, simply may feel they'll again have someone with their back in the White House and not someone who will work against them.
Similarly, the president-elect, during the campaign, said he believed 4 percent annual economic growth was possible. Just last week, Treasury secretary designee Steven Mnuchin said he felt a sustained rate of 3 percent to 4 percent was possible.
When Trump made his claim in October, economists quickly pooh-poohed the possibility.
"No, pigs do not fly," Robert Brusca, senior economist at FAO Economics, a research firm, said. "Donald Trump is dreaming."
Remember, though, that during the immediate post-Great Recession, circa 2010-2011, businesses wanted to grow, to add jobs, to increase workers, but they'd already been hit with a flurry of new rules, regulations and had no idea what to expect from the freshly minted Affordable Care Act. It was uncharted territory, this government-run health care program. How much would it cost them? Would they have to cut staff? The risks to expand, at the moment, were too great. So they held the line.
Indeed, as late as this October, economists were wondering whether 1.5 percent or 1.75 percent growth was the new normal.
Yet, revised figures out last week indicated the economy grew 3.2 percent in the third quarter, the fastest pace in two years. With a pro-business growth president in the White House, why should we think it's not possible?
Why, indeed, should we not think job prospects in both small and large companies could get better, that the rule of law about illegal immigrants could be upheld, that an overpriced, underperforming health care program could be wound down and replaced with a better one?
Trump, thus far, has made cabinet appointments that make us believe he is serious about fulfilling his campaign promises to do those things - and get those things done. The proof, of course, will be in the doing, and a majority of respondents in a recent Harvard Center for American Politics Studies poll believe he'll get it done.
Why should we also not think the United States could return as the voice of sanity across the world, not the voice of temerity and apology?
After all, the people who met with Trump as possible secretary of state appointments were not two-headed monsters who sought world domination and tyrannical rule, as has been suggested of his foreign policy strategy. Instead, they were smart, pragmatic and well-traveled.
So, is it "morning again in America"? Can we be optimistic about our future? Can we believe the divisions could be healed by the opportunities of new and better jobs? Can we hope for an administration that works for the whole instead of the parts? Can we, in fact, still dream big dreams for our country?
A month ago, a Trump presidency itself was only a dream for millions of disaffected workers, underemployed moms and regular "Joes" who felt their country was no longer a place they recognized. The New York businessman would, they were told every day by media cheerleaders for Hillary Clinton, go down to a monumental defeat, dragging the U.S. Senate and U.S. House with him.
But voters had other ideas. They could envision that morning, that possibility of a sunrise.
We hope Trump proves it actually exists.