“The American, by nature,” John F. Kennedy said, “is optimistic.” Never truer words were spoken. Though Left and Right often lament how this optimism affects our vision and action, the public has made good on it many times. Yet it needs to be a realistic vision. American politicians, including Kennedy, nearly always succeed with an appeal to that optimism. Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s 1932 campaign song was Milton Ager and Jack Yellen’s “Happy Days Are Here Again.” Ronald Reagan’s slogan was, “It’s Morning Again in America.” Donald Trump, famous for speeches of all kinds, including “American Carnage,” is nevertheless essentially an optimist for whom the future is “A New American Golden Age” in which everything will be Yuge. Even Barack Obama, arch-skeptic of U.S. exceptionalism, relentless apologist for America’s sins, and “Klingon Prison” presidential library builder, sailed into office on “Yes, We Can!” These and many other candidates channeled (or exploited) our happy-go-lucky American character and sold the people on a vision of going lucky with them as our representatives. Those who looked down in the mouth on the platform, such as the toothsome 1979 preacher of “American Malaise,” Jimmy Carter, usually found themselves gasping for electoral air.