As the president of the United States delivers a prime time address on a growing environmental disaster, we can think of no better time for a pop quiz to test one's knowledge of quotations from prominent figures in the free world.
Today’s multiple-choice challenge, just for fun, involves utterances on topics of particular relevance to the ongoing oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
Who said: "With God's help and for the sake of our nation, it is time for us to join hands in America. Let us commit ourselves together to a rebirth of the American spirit. Working together with our common faith we cannot fail." Was it:
A. Ronald Reagan
B. Jimmy Carter
C. Mike Huckabee
D. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Who said: "We can see this crisis in the growing doubt about the meaning of our own lives and in the loss of a unity of purpose for our nation. The erosion of our confidence in the future is threatening to destroy the social and the political fabric of America."
A. Rush Limbaugh
B. Ronald Reagan
C. Abraham Lincoln
D. Jimmy Carter
Who said: "Energy will be the immediate test of our ability to unite this nation, and it can also be the standard around which we rally. On the battlefield of energy we can win for our nation a new confidence, and we can seize control again of our common destiny."
A. T. Boone Pickens
B. Dick Cheney
C. Jimmy Carter
D. John D. Rockefeller Jr.
Who said: "We will protect our environment. But when this nation critically needs a refinery or a pipeline, we will build it."
A. Ronald Reagan
B. Sarah Palin
C. James Watt
D. Jimmy Carter
Who said: "I'm proposing a boldconservation program to involve every state, county, and city and every averageAmerican in our energy battle. This effort will permit you to buildconservation into your homes and your lives at a cost you can afford."
A. Al Gore
B. Barack Obama
C. Bill Clinton
D. Jimmy Carter
Who said: "Every gallon of oileach one of us saves is a new form of production. It gives us more freedom, more confidence, that much more control over our own lives."
A. John McCain
B. George Herbert Walker Bush
C. Jimmy Carter
D. William F. Buckley Jr.
Who said: "We can manage the short-term shortages more effectively and we will, but there are no short-term solutions to our long-range problems. There is simply no way to avoid sacrifice."
A. Franklin Roosevelt
B. Dwight Eisenhower
C. Woodrow Wilson
D. Jimmy Carter
Who said: "I do not promise you that this struggle for freedom will be easy. I do not promise a quick way out of our nation's problems, when the truth is that the only way out is an all-out effort."
A. Abraham Lincoln
B. Theodore Roosevelt
C. John F. Kennedy
D. Jimmy Carter
Only one political figure is the answer to each question.
The comments were lifted from a nationally televised address delivered by Jimmy Carter in July 1979.
Dubbed “the malaise speech” by critics, the talk to the nation was mocked, and Carter castigated for being wimpy.
America was in the middle of an energy crisis, created by the Arab oil embargo and exacerbated by soaring inflation. Carter called for several things:
° Mandates for better fuel efficiency from the Big Three automakers in Detroit (subsequently rejected by lawmakers on Capitol Hill).
°A push for alternative energy, including investment in biofuels, solar and wind technology (rejected due to lobbying from the oil and coalindustries).
° Increasing homegrown energy to winnow America’s dependence on foreign oil (which at that time was 50 percent and now hovers near 75 percent).
° A push for energy conservation by turning off lights, turning down thermostats, driving less, walking and biking more to save money and showing America’s resolve (rejected by those who considered it an imposition on liberty).
Carter’s speech painted energy as a vital national security, economic, and environmental issue. The talking points used by wind proponent-oilman T. Boone Pickens in his current Pickens Plan could have been lifted out of Carter’s text.
Carter equated patriotism to personal sacrifice in order to achieve a better country. He said: “In a nation that was proud of hard work, strong families, close-knit communities, and our faith in God, too many of us now tend to worship self-indulgence and consumption. Human identity is no longer defined by what one does, but by what one owns.”
Was he wrong or right?
"Pearls Of Past Now Truer Than Ever"
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