In 1979, US President Jimmy Carter went on national television during an oil crisis and delivered a 32-minute address diagnosing a ‘crisis of confidence’ eating away at America’s soul.

It was overwrought.

It was preachy.

It arguably ended his presidency.

But at least the man showed up with a theory of the case.

On Wednesday night, Anthony Albanese addressed the nation for three and a half minutes and told Australians to catch the bus.

Both reached for the full national broadcast treatment during a real energy crunch.

Carter spent ten days at Camp David workshopping the moment with more than 130 citizens before emerging convinced the country needed a moral intervention.

Albanese appears to have workshopped his speech with his political strategists, then cleared prime time across every network to advise Australians not to fill their petrol tanks.

Carter went big. Mandatory conservation targets. Windfall taxes on oil companies. A full rewrite of American energy ambition. Albanese went small. Have you considered the train?

The only actual policy, nonsense policy, a billion dollars in business loans, was saved for a Press Club speech the next morning, which rather gives the game away.

Carter’s malaise speech is now taught in political science courses as a warning about what happens when a leader talks down to voters in therapy-speak while the petrol queues stretch around the block.

Albanese’s speech will not be taught at all. It will struggle to be remembered by people who were actively watching it.

Three and a half minutes, gone without trace.