“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.