Word: carterisms
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...context was hardly an auspicious beginning for the phrase in the presidency, and it didn't immediately catch on. Gerald Ford eschewed it, as did Jimmy Carter. But not Ronald Reagan. Reagan made "God bless America" the omnipresent political slogan that it is today. He used the phrase to conclude his dramatic nomination acceptance address at the Republican Party convention in July 1980, and once in office, made it his standard sign-off. Presidents since Reagan have followed suit, and the shift in presidential rhetoric could hardly be more striking...
...From the inauguration of Franklin Roosevelt in 1933 - which most observers view as the beginning of the modern presidency - to the end of Carter's term in January 1981, Presidents gave 229 major addresses. Nixon's use of "God bless America" was the only time the phrase passed a President's lips. In contrast, from Reagan's inauguration through the six-year mark of the current Bush Administration, Presidents gave 129 major speeches, yet they said "God bless America" (or the United States) 49 times. It's a pattern we unearthed in our book The God Strategy: How Religion Became...
...just these specific words that have entered the presidency with alarming regularity. Presidential requests for divine blessing or guidance, phrased in any fashion, also took off with Reagan. Presidents from Roosevelt to Carter did sometimes conclude their addresses by seeking God's blessing, often using language such as "May God give us wisdom" or "With God's help." But they didn't make a habit of it. In fact, five of the eight Presidents during this period concluded this way in less than 30% of their speeches. Harry Truman, Lyndon Johnson and Ford did so a bit more often...
...change? It's not that the past four Presidents were simply more pious than their predecessors. Few would doubt the honest faith of Dwight Eisenhower, or Johnson, or Carter. It's that "God bless America," true to its presidential birth on that April evening in 1973, has grown to be politically expedient. The phrase is a simple way for Presidents and politicians of all stripes to pass the God and Country test; to sate the appetites of those in the public and press corps who want assurance that this person is a real, God-fearing American. It's the verbal...
...media tour and suggested that any efforts that Obama had made to distance himself was posturing. "Politicians say what they say and do what they do based on electability, based on sound bites, based on polls," Wright said dismissively of his former congregant. Even former President Jimmy Carter, who normally avoids commenting on the presidential race, told CNN that Wright had "really been damaging" to Obama's presidential campaign...