Jimmy Carter, the enigma.

Being Canadian I see things internationally and American. This president is a complete enigma. He is damn near TOTALLY hated at home and TOTALLY loved outside of the US. Many non-Americans see this guy as the best Prez in their lifetime. Lib's and Con's in the US see him as the worst ever. Why?

Was the Iran Embassy incident the defining moment in his tenure? The country was healing from a long war(Viet Nam) that pitted one against the other. A war also lost. That's a hard pill to swallow for some.

This is the question, as an American why do you dislike Jimmy? As another nationality why did you like Jimmy? Please guys, let's keep the flaming on simmer.

I AM an American, and I think he was a great president who was unfairly blamed for many things. The bad economy WAS NOT his fault, it was the fault of wasteful Vietnam spending. The Iran mess was not his fault, it was the fault of the CIA idiots who installed the Shah. Heck, he even successfully negotiated the release of the hostages, but Bush and Reagan sabotaged it for their own reasons (cf. October surprise).

I'm a Canadian. President Carter went to TMI. I admire him even more for his Habitat for Humanity work. Reported a UFO too...

Cheers,

Vic

I'm an American, and I voted for him. I thought, and still do, that he was about the last honest human being we've had in the Oval Office. Decent people seldom even seek the presidency.

And the first one that falls for the term "human being" will be spanked and sent to do penance in Skunk Works.

I'm American too. I was too young to vote in Jimmy's day, but looking back from when I started becoming interested in politics, I think he was the last great president. Certainly not Ronnie Ray-gun. The man works with Habitat for Humanity now, as old as he is. He's a gentleman in ways that our current government could never be.

I wish to FSM we'd get another one like him, but I'm afraid the corporate overlords won't allow it. They need people who are firmly in their pockets.

Not only was he a great president, he continued after his tenor doing great work. His habitat for humanity work helps many people, some would never have had a home if not for that organization.

Great question. But I think to really answer it there needs to be a distinction drawn between Jimmy the Man & Jimmy the President. From my experience, most Americans I know think Jimmy was a good and likable person, but are almost in universal agreement that he stank as a President.

Fair or not, but the President normally gets way more credit than deserved when things go good, and way too much blame when they go bad. Jimmy's remembered for high interest rates, rampant inflation, gas lines, and an overall economic malaise.

I think the Democrats probably could've run a cocker spaniel in '76 and won. Ford was pushed into the VP job after the Agnew prosecution and was the only person to serve as President who had not been elected to either the Presidency or Vice Presidency. After the Nixon years, the country was definitely in the mood for a change.

Other than the country's overall economic issues, I think the thing that ended up hurting Jimmy the most was his personality. The perception is he'd probably be a great guy to sit on the porch and drink lemonade with, but not necessarily the guy you want running point on the tough decisions. And I think that's the issue - the perception that Jimmy just wasn't tough enough.

I think he's a very decent man, but I think Hillary'd mop the floor with him in a bar fight. He might take Edwards, though.

I tend to agree with Yeahright, Carter is better known for his wisdom, than his action.

Unfortunately the times were against him...with an economy in shambles, a war we took the back way out of, most of the world thumbing their noses at us at the time, etc...what we needed was a president of action...someone who would lead us out of the ever deepening hole we had gotten ourselves into...

Today the opposite is almost true, rather than a president of action, we need a president with wisdom, a slow, polite, and resourceful thinker.

Jimmy the man AFTER the presidency is thought of as an elder statesman, a man of insight...and he IS
Jimmy the president was seen as indecisive and filled with self doubt and he WAS.

I see the oil Crisis as a manufacturing of Saudi Arabia an ally of the right. The vice president running against Carter ticket in 1980 was Bush 41 after all.

I am not 100% sure on the stag-flation, but I would not doubt a few money players put the squeeze on when one of theirs was not in the white house.

And someone already mentioned how Iran was manipulated by Reagan arms/contras/hostages

I think Carter was made to look worse then he was.

[edit on 10-10-2007 by Redge777]

I'm a Euro and we've always favoured Dems. GOPs they suck, too much of a fascist image. Therefor in my personal experience, i.e. my lifetime, you've had Kennedy, Carter and Clinton as decent personalities in the White House. The rest have been morons, crooks or gangsters, LBJ being the foremost. Come to think Eisenhover maybe wasn't that bad, it was John Foster Dulles who was.

Back on topic, let me contribute with a qoute of Willy Nelson, a long time personal friend of Carter. Willy have had a rough life and a hard time with authorities ever since he became an 'outlaw' in his music. He has been hunted down by FDA and ripped off by IRA more than once.

During Carter Willy Nelson was a frequent guest to the White House. About dope smoking he have said:
"The only place I ever felt safe to smoke a joint was on the roof of the White House."

Bet Jimmy might have dropped by for a drag.

I would say he makes a better humanist than a president. One presidential attribute that he particularly lacked in was the ability to make a tough decision. America was basically dead meat at that point in our history and if Russia attacked we would have been at their mercy, and I’m sure in hindsight they been kicking themselves in the ass ever since. Little did we know until many years later just how much of Jimmy’s religious faith played into his every move, and guided him in ever decision process he was willing or unwilling to make.

Americans hate him because they think he's at fault for the hostage crisis. The reason they hate him currently is because he spoke out against Israel's atrocities committed on the Palestinians, and people labeled him anti-semitic for it.

I guess these days, opposing anything Israel does, even if it's murder, and oppression means you're a racist.

The man helps build free or cheap housing for low income families. He literally builds them with his own hands, with groups, so that Americans have a place to sleep at night.

[edit on 11-10-2007 by DJMessiah]

Im Australian and was in utero when Mr Carter was president. I had never given the man a second thought untill I came across this article in todays paper.

www.smh.com.au...


I imagine it would have taken him alot of thought and alot of balls to have said this to the media. I think it shows the man does care about America and Americans and is willing to put his arse on the line.

Well I live in New Zealand and I think Carter is nice guy but he was a lousy president . Sure if you compare Carter with the current admin he looks like a better president but that the deceptive because the Bush admin is has sunk way beyond lousy.

Mr. Carter was the man for the moment - in the same way Mr. Major was after Margaret Thatcher. Both perfectly decent men who you wouldn't mind holding a conversation with but two guys overwhelmed by a change in the public mood.

It's sometimes easy to forget quite how bad the 1970's were economically. The huge leap in oil prices, runaway inflation, strikes in just about every industry & rising unemployment. In the mid 70's detente with the Soviet Union was still the thing but by the end of the decade the Soviets had upped the ante with a series of provocative moves - SS20 missiles being deployed in Eastern Europe, the Afghanistan invasion, suppression of the new Solidarity movement in Poland. Mr. Carter was probably seen as weak because he and his government were always reacting to events - they just never seemed to take the initiative. The Teheran hostage crisis just buried him. That combined with US military failure when the attempt to free the hostages went badly wrong. Faced with a difficult international situation, a poor economy, an assertive Congress & a particularly effective opponent in Ronald Reagan it's little wonder Mr. Carter lost the election.


But he brought a lasting peace to Egypt & Israel. And continued the SALT process to reduce the numbers of nuclear weapons. And he visited Newcastle-Upon-Tyne in England ! I remember watching that live on TV. An exciting day for us Northerners.

But, nah, overall he was dealt a bad hand and made the best of it he could. I don't think his Presidency was as bad as the historians make out. But it wasn't great either.

Heavens. President Carter visited Newcastle-Upon-Tyne in 1977. 30 years ago. Ages me a little bit. Quite funny to see the cheering crowds welcoming - welcoming - an American President !

Originally posted by DJMessiah
Americans hate him because they think he's at fault for the hostage crisis. The reason they hate him currently is because he spoke out against Israel's atrocities committed on the Palestinians, and people labeled him anti-semitic for it.

I see this as spin to bring back the Nixon/Reagan/Bush/Clinton approach to government, money and power first. You are correct the Israel Lobby has many politicians and media on its payroll, or in its camp at least.

My first vote was for Carter, on my very last day in the Coast Guard. I did not vote for him in 1980 though, I voted for John Anderson.

Carter has gotten a bad rap for a lot of things that were beyond his control, and then he bungled a few too. Like letting the Shah into the country when he had been warned by the CIA that it would be a mistake to do so; and then his failed attempt to rescue the hostages.

At the same time Reagan and the right had begun their constant mantra that liberals/Democrats are bad for the country and like all big lies, they repeated it often enough that people came to believe it, forgetting all the good that they had done as well.

I have said here before that the 76 election between Carter and Ford was the last election where we had a choice between to really decent men who you could live with regardless of who won.

Carter has gone on to be a true humanitarian and one of the best faces America presents to the world. Clinton is well on his way down that path as well. Bush senior has also played his role.

Junior however, he seems too self absorbed to ever take up that mantle of humanitarian and spoke man for the disenfranchised and needy.

I would like to be proved wrong about bush minor but somehow I doubt that I will be.

[edit on 11-10-2007 by grover]

I have to disagree on the statement that Jimmy Carter is "hated" here
in the USA. Any time he makes a policy statement, the beloved press
picks up on it and puts it on the front page. Today in fact, Jimmy has
spoken and abcnews.go.com... placed his opinions right on the
front page of www.abcnews.com.

He is a good man who would have served 2 terms if his hostage rescue
mission didn't crash and burn in the desert. (IMO) -cwm

Originally posted by Redge777
I think Carter was made to look worse then he was.

We have a winner!

Jimmy Carter's hands were tied by subversive elements within his own government, elements whos actions were politically motivated.

It's hip to hate Carter among the weak-minded. They still do vehemently to this day.

Regardless of his partisanship, he was a great statesman then, and still is to this day.

Peace