The threat is nearly”—he paused, appearing to be sincerely searching for just the right word—“invisible in ordinary ways. It is a crisis—of confidence. It is a crisis that strikes at the very heart and soul and spirit of our national will.” That paragraph felt both perfectly formed and achingly spontaneous, like all truly great political speeches. The next paragraph did, too: “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
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