Can you imagine what headlines there would be if he ever said that things were great<g>
Elderly people very often have a pessimistic view of life and its understandable as they realsie that they don't have all that long to be giving orders and having their opinions matter.
I guess thats only natural and one has to feel a bit sympathtic as we are all of us going to be there one day and I'm sure I'll be more pessimistic than he is when I get to that age.