Jimmy Carter, 98, goes into hospice.
I consider him an excellent president.
Some events a president can shape. Other events shape a presidency.
There is an apocryphal story of King Canute, leader of England beginning in the year 1016. The legend is that he sought to make a point to his flattering courtiers about the limits of his power. He brought his throne to the ocean shore facing an incoming tide. He commanded the tide to retreat. Of course, it did not. The story goes that he then announced, "Let all men know how empty and worthless is the power of kings."
People inclined to consider Jimmy Carter a poor president observe that he was a good man in a job that requires a ruthless man. He bent over backward to show he had clean hands by selling his peanut farm, lest he be considered self-dealing. But that same impulse to be sure no one was taking special advantage had him looking at the sign-up sheets for the White House tennis court, to be sure that senior people weren't taking advantage of junior people. He micromanaged fairness.
Carter redirected American foreign policy toward support of democratic values. He supported "human rights." That sounds all-American good, but it ran counter to foreign policy "realpolitik" in which foreign policy is hard headed, practical, and played for national advantage, however cynical and hypocritical. What if the country abusing human rights was an ally?
Jimmy Carter lost the election to Ronald Reagan in 1980 because Carter's very election in 1976 was an aberration in the political mood in America. America was in retreat from civil rights. The civil rights laws enacted under Lyndon Johnson in 1964-1968 were a high point of realization for a majority of Americans that Blacks had been treated unjustly. They were blocked from the vote, from education, from employment. America passed laws to address that. And then the backlash grew: Hey wait! Equality meant that Blacks might be a classmate, a child's spouse, a competitor for a job, a boss, a neighbor! Not so fast! Richard Nixon had a "southern strategy" to shape that backlash.
But an unstoppable tide in the form of an energy shock was facing the USA. In response to U.S. support for Israel, countries in the Middle East agreed to cut production and raise the price of oil. Oil tripled in price. The West had built economies around cheap oil. People drove big cars with poor gasoline mileage--why not? Buildings were not energy efficient--why should they be? Energy was cheap. There were lines at gasoline stations to buy high-priced fuel.
He urged people to turn down the heat, to wear a sweater, to conserve energy for the common good. And to drive 55 miles per hour.
High oil prices meant double-digit inflation. Every contract had a cost of living adjustment calculation. Jimmy Carter promoted Paul Volcker to be Chair of the Federal Reserve Board. It was typical Carter. He did the right thing, not the politically advantageous thing. Inflation-hawk Volcker pushed interest rates up into the teens, starting a recession and intentionally raising what candidate Ronald Reagan called the "misery index." High inflation and high unemployment are two more iterations of incoming tide. They end presidencies. Carter lost the 1980 election.
Carter went on to do what good people do. He did not contest the election. Indeed he graciously conceded the election to Reagan at dinnertime Pacific time on election day, when voters in Oregon were still casting votes. I was on the ballot as a Democrat running for County Commissioner. I was alarmed this would suppress my vote. Somehow, I won.
Jimmy Carter looks old fashioned now. He and Rosalynn live in a two-bedroom, one bath house. He never cashed in on being president or post-president. Trump has persuaded a great many Americans that honesty and virtue in business, personal life, and politics is a loser's game. Presidents need to be strong and ruthless, not good. Virtue is for suckers. It is a dog eat dog world. You want to be led by a fighter, not a saint. I respect Jimmy Carter. I lament the fact that he seems so very quaint, so very last-century.
Jimmy Carter didn't change who he was. America changed.
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15 comments:
I voted for Jimmy Carter in 1976, and liked him at first. But you left out his major failing as a president: Iran. Carter’s fumbling treatment of the Shah, followed by his supine and incompetent response to our diplomats being taken hostage was unforgivable.
Added to the aftermath of his “malaise“ speech, his reelection became hopeless. Most Americans want to hear positive and optimistic messages from their president. Repentance and negative self-reflection are not an easy political sell in this country.
in response to the Iran hostage situation, Carter needed to show more of this kind of spirit.
I might place Carter below James Buchanan, if ranking failed Presidents. (Buchanan faced much greater challenges.) Carter's judgment was astoundingly poor; reducing all freeway speeds, nationwide, to no more than 55 mph? Firing his entire cabinet for no reason in one day? Leading the boycott of the 1980 Olympics for practically no valid reason? (Just his luck the USA staged the greatest Olympic win ever earlier that year!) His "failure of confidence" speech perhaps the worst written, most off-target speech of any importance ever delivered? Plus, Carter was notoriously small and rude to the White House staff, a true measure of his stature. Nice man in later life; utter failure as a leader. Should have stuck with his Navy career in nuclear power; might have done less damage. Carter's contrast to Reagan, who succeeded him, was what made Ronald stand out so memorably. Only Ford could have lost to Carter!
Jimmy Carter is (or was) a good man and a good president, one of those rare Christians who actually put Jesus’ teachings into practice. He cared about people and social justice, something that’s become anathema to the GOP. They tend to revile him because, as Peter said, they think “presidents should be strong and ruthless, not good. Virtue is for suckers.”
Thus, Republicans prefer a psychopath who tried to overthrow the government, while one of their other leading (though unannounced) contenders for 2024 wages a culture war against social justice, which they sneeringly refer to as “woke” – a term they misappropriated from Blacks and turned into the new N-word.
The GOP has gone insane. Let’s hope the madness doesn’t spread.
I remember you from those days, Peter, when you worked for Weaver. The combination of Weaver and Carter meant that those were good days for the environment, for wilderness and wildlife. Carter was a good environmental president.
He had bad advisors and bad speech writers, for sure.
And also, there were no new wars during his time in office.
As for Iran, I believe it is no coincidence that the Iran hostages were released on the day of Reagan taking office.
Carter's election was an example of the same impulse that elevated Barack Obama. There is in this society a powerful energy that moves us into a more progressive future. The struggle to eradicate racism is a central theme, but it goes beyond that towards more inclusion, more tolerance and justice. This is the idealism enshrined in the founding documents, however flawed in their implementation.
I'd add I don't think America has changed in that regard, but if you take a closer look you'll see Republicans sure have.
Godspeed, President Carter!
What strikes me is that you consider former President Jimmy Carter "an excellent president" but seem to be very hard on President Joe Biden overall.
Have you disclosed who you supported as the Democratic nominee for the last presidential election? Maybe I missed it. I doubt that it was Joe Biden.
Happy Presidents' Day and thank God that Joe Biden and the Democratic Party won the anti-democratic electoral college and the popular vote by 7 MILLION votes in 2020!
Message to "Anonymous"
Thank you for asking who I preferred for president in the past. I preferred Obama to Hillary in 2008. In 2016 I watched all the Democratic candidates and I was not surprised that Hillary beat Sanders. Sanders was too visible and uncompromising in his talk of "socialism" and his attacks on elites. It scared people. He was a more popular candidate in part for his uncompromising integrity, but that strength was his weakness. Too many Democrats want reform, not what he openly called revolution. I consider his language a suicidal bit of messaging. He did not work to be popular. He worked to be pure. So he got the just rewards of the pure, which is the knowledge that he kept the faith. Hillary, though, got the nominaiton. In 2016 I recognized and wrote frequently saying that Trump was not laughable, but rather than he attracted a certain sort of working class populist. I lamented my own election morning prediction that, god help us, Trump would win. And he did.
In 2020 I recognized that Democrats needed a new generation and a moderate. I wished that Buttigieg--an extraordinary talent--had Biden's moderate positions. I wish that Biden did not seem so frail I wrote honestly observing that he used a teleprompter in a stump speech. For a veteran politician to use a teleprompter in a stump speech was equivalent to an elite bicyclist using training wheels. I wish Buttigieg and Klobuchar had not dropped out immediately after the SC primary, but they did. The Democratic electorate immediately congealed around Biden. I was ok with that. I saw that Elizabeth Warren ran the best campaign, and I liked her, but I also observed publicly that her position on Medicare for All excited a minority of people, not the majority. She was the very best candidate but she had a message that appealed to people in my demographic: a prosperous educated man. She somehow turned off working class people, both in Massachusetts and nationally. I recognize that my preference is not necessarily a good indication of who other Democrats want. Since I saw that other voters didn't like Warren, I turned away. Since Buttigieg dropped out, I turned away. I supported Biden. But there is no denying that he is 80 years old. I think it is a problem.
Peter Sage
I wonder if/when Joe Biden will get the credit that he deserves. The "old white guy" from Scranton who WON. No one handed it to him. He beat the Democratic opposition, withstanding various nasty attacks, and he beat MAGA. Grade: A+++
Joe is a winner. He has been an excellent president so far. I am disabled and a senior. Maybe that is why I can appreciate what JB has accomplished and what he still has to offer our country and the world. I focus on what he has done and what he still plans to do in office. I don't focus on his limitations. I strongly oppose both ageism and ableism, in addition to the other isms.
Jimmy and Roslyn Carter are exemplary Americans.
(Hope I spelled her name correctly.)
Nope... Her full name is Eleanor Rosalynn (Smith) Carter.
In my lifetime we've had two chances to break the hold of the National Security State on US foreign policy and our economy and psyche. One was 1976, the other was 2008. Those were the years when our war machine had been discredited. It didn't happen either time. Relevant here is his commitment to human rights. Yes, he established that office in the State Department but didn't let human rights determine his specific policies. Contrary to your understanding that he allowed such considerations to weaken our support for vicious regimes when they were our allies, he ordered our military to help a struggling Indonesia complete its illegal conquest of East Timor--200,000 East Timorese died. And it was Carter, not Reagan, whom Archbishop Oscar Romero begged to stop arming the Right-wing Arena government repress the movements for economic justice and democracy in El Salvador.
The inflation Carter struggled to control wasn't primarily caused by a rise in oil prices. Nixon was struggling with it several years before (he used wage-price controls w/o much success) because its main driver was the accumulated cost of the Vietnam War and the deficits Johnson and Nixon ran up to fund it without cutting domestic programs.
Excellent article, Peter! Biden rocks, Carter rocks, and Weaver rocked.
You say you were one of Weaver's aids. So you worked with another aid, Peter DeFazio. Their commonality? They were all caring individuals, and they were the most honest politicians I can remember, other than maybe Republican Bill Smith.
I was privileged to be able to speak with Weaver on the Jefferson Exchange years ago when Jeff Golden was HMFIC. At one point Weaver said “Malcolm, one of these days, the Republicans are going to line up all us liberals, and shoot us.” Golden laughed nervously, and said, “ Of course you’re being facetious, Jim!”. Weaver said, “Jeff, I’m being dead serious.”Prescient? Maybe.
Diane said:
As for Iran, I believe it is no coincidence that the Iran hostages were released on the day of Reagan taking office.
There was a joke going around in the months before Ronald Reagan took office as president:
Q: What’s flat, green, and glows in the dark?
A: Iran after January 21st.
Let's not forget the Republicans working with a foreign government at that time to influence the election.
Siding with our enemies is what the Republicans do.
"Siding with our enemies is what the Republicans do."
Since we're on the subject of Reagan, he's a example of that, illegally selling weapons to Iran and giving the proceeds to Nicaraguan terrorists. I wonder how many of those weapons were used to kill our troops when another Republican president used 9/11 as an excuse to invade Iran instead of Saudi Arabia, where the terrorists came from.
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