Thoughts from Camp David

As he talked to his summit guests, the President repeatedly described his deep feelings and grave concerns. A sampler:

I've thought a lot about our country in this last week, and for a number of months I've been particularly concerned about the attitude of people. When I ran for President, I tapped the basic problems of our nation: the shocking assassination of J.F.K. and the ignominious defeat that we suffered in Viet Nam. A realization for the first time that our nation has limited natural resources [came] in 1973-74 with the oil embargo. In some ways the nation has not gotten over this.

sbI think there's a general sense of love and reverence for the nation, the United States of America. I think there's an antipathy or distrust or even sometimes a hatred of the Government of the U.S.; not just me, but I'm part of it. sb I've commented about the moral equivalent of war, which was more a subject of scorn and ridicule than it was of serious analysis, and I think it's inevitable that it's going to get worse in '80 than it was in '79, and it will get worse in '81 than in '80. The only trend is downward. But it's been almost impossible to get people to face up to this.

With the aftermath of gas lines in California and on the East Coast, they have to come around. My own belief and my own hope is that if I can present the case to the public clearly, the Congress will act.

sbI think it's inevitable that there will be a lower standard of living than what everybody had always anticipated, constant growth. I think by the year 2000 we'll be using more energy than we are now, but there's going to be a downward turning. Part of it stems from more conservation, I think. A lot of it can come from not a change in the quality of life but maybe the quantity of consumer goods that we use and waste. I think there's going to have to be a reorientation of what people value in their own lives. I believe that there has to be a more equitable sharing of what we have.

sbWe have a lot of differences with the Soviets, but I spent six hours a day with Brezhnev, talking about not only SALT but also about other problems, and a lot of the problems we face in the Western world are the same as the ones faced in the Eastern world: general malaise and a general dissatisfaction with present circumstances, withdrawal of people from one another, an immediate fragmentation of society, a redivision of ethnic groups, economic strata, energy shortages becoming increasingly prevalent, people struggling with a need to maintain ancient ethics.

sbWe probably are the most blessed of all the Western nations, but [we are] in effect two nations: the producing nation--ours is ahiong the largest on earth --and the largest consumer nation on earth. And in the past, as you know, the producers have controlled our political system. In the past two years, there has been a growing division in our society about oil because the consumer voice has become stronger and stronger, and now they're about equal, I think.

-sbI've had some of my best comments from people I'd never heard of before.

A young black female mayor of a little town in Mississippi was kind of excited about being here, and she said, "Mr.

President, one thing you have to remember is that they can't sell something on Wall Street unless someone digs it up first." It's a reminder of the fact that some of us have been in a recession all our lives.

sbI believe this moment that a successful addressing of the energy question can be kind of a marshaling try or a binding point or a cutting edge to prove to our people again that our nation is capable of the individual initiative that comes from human freedom, the free-enterprise system that brings out innovation, a Government that is flexible and resilient and responsive, I hope. These factors and others I think can give us an ability to take a tremendous advance.

-I think I need to speak with a clear voice. I think I've been too bogged down in the management of the mechanism of the Government in Washington. I've not done as good a job as I should have governing our people, of staying as focused on our people as I was when I first came into Washington. I think I need to present my programs more clearly. There's only one person really who can consistently speak with a clear voice to the American people. That's the President.

But unless I'm able to do it successfully, I think it might be a time before we have this opportunity again. I think it's kind of a turning point, and I really am convinced after this week that the people are ready for it. A lot of the very diverse and very independent members of Congress, the very senior members, say, "Mr. President, for God's sake, you just tell us what to do and we will do it."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.