Why Jimmy Carter failed? (for any history majors)

[JohnnyFianna1]

I was digging through some old National Reviews (my father was a big Repub till he met Wesley Clark about 8 weeks ago), and I came across the 1996 prediction, "Bill Clinton will go the way of Jimmy Carter."
What exactly made Jimmy Carter so bad? He was very liberal, and seemed to be a Born-again, so why did he not only lose to the pathetic Ronald McDonald, but sent created a whole new category of Repubs, Reagan Democrats. Maybe I'm missing something, but Reagan seemed to have plenty more scandals, and had vastly higher unemployment levels, yet he won by the widest majority of voted in history. So, my question is why and how did Jimmy Carter fail, and how did Reagan succeed?

[FloridaPat]

1. Carter sounded real good during the election. When he got in

office, it seemed like he didn't really have any experience. Couldn't do anything with Congress. Just one mess after another. Then there was the fall of the Shah in Iran and the American hostages. Rumor has it that Reagan had a pact with Iran to hold the hostages until after the election.

Carter is definately a man with a good heart. He's done more after becoming preseident than all the republicans together since then have done for the good of humanity.

[PROGRESSIVE1]

2. Reagan and H.W. Bush had a pact alright. Why is it that....

Reagan gets to announce the release of the hostages during his 1981 inauguration speech???

[ramapo]

9. Arms for hostages

Bush made a behind-the-scenes deal setting the stage for Iran-Contra years later.

[JohnnyFianna1]

5. This seems to be it,

but wasn't Congress under Democratic Control at the time. Also, I've heard that he discovered the solution for inflation at the end of his presidency, (increasing interest rates).

[burythehatchet]

3. Carter failed because he actually lived his religion

[Bjornsdotter]

10. Not a Failure...

Hi,

I don't think Carter was a failure but rather a good person in a shady business.

Yes, I agree he lives/lived his religion and I think that has really shown in his actions since leaving the White House.

What I find really funny....Carter is not thought of as a failure everywhere in the world....what does that say about US?

Cheers,
Kim

[pinkpops]

4. I think the answer is that Carter did not fail

unless you mean he did not get reelected. But then neither did Bush Sr. There may be the perception that Carter failed and Reagan suceeded, but your own description of the two men belies this perception. I believe the perception comes from marketing of the president as a product, which continues to this day.

[yardwork]

6. The economy was in terrible shape under Carter, and he seemed powerless

to make any difference. There was an oil embargo from the middle east producers, and then a revolution in Iran that held hostages. The press jumped all over Carter - blamed him for everything. They had a daily count of the number of days the hostages were held.

People got discouraged. First we had the Watergate scandal, resignation of the president, and then the economy tanked. Long lines at gas stations, no gas on Sunday, energy crisis, etc. Reagan was like Grandpa - "It's morning in America."

The closest parallel is the situation in California, with voters throwing out Davis and electing Schwartzenegger. Apparently Americans vote in movie stars when the going gets tough. Go figure.

(With the benefit of hindsight, it's interesting to see that a lot of Carter's troubles were brought about by none other than - ta da! - Poppy Bush! Interesting....)

[ramapo]

7. Not liberal

Carter was not very liberal. In fact he had a lot of trouble from his fellow democrats, Teddy Kennedy in particular. The democrats led the way in Carter-bashing for Reagan.

Carter did a poor job also in working with his own party. He rubbed a lot of noses the wrong way. He came in as the Washington outsider and stayed that way.

Carter also had bad luck. High inflation was a hugh problem for most Americans. Mortgage rates were in the mid-teens. Then there was the Iranian hostage problem and the failed rescue attempt.

Even with all this Carter made a run for it and had something broken his way he might've beat Reagan.

Reagan was the master communicator. He wasn't much better than Bush II on the facts and issues but he was smooth and witty. People loved the amiable Ronnie.

He had some great one-liners and put Carter away with the question he posed at the end of the last? debate, "Are you better off today than you were four years ago".

Reagan also beat Carter up on the debt, blaming him for the $1 trillion debt from the tax-and-spend Democrats. How'd we love a $1T debt today.

Anyway the Democrats back then were their own worse enemy, then Reagan came along, and that was that.

[cornfedyank]

32. Reagan was so trusted

he was a sports caster in Iowa. then we saw him each week on Death Valley Days. he out trustworthied J.C. it was a surreal marketing of the presidency.

[Classical_Liberal]

8. "America Held Hostage'' Day 164

It was because of the Iranian hostage crisis.

[JohnnyFianna1]

12. How is it that no one called Poppy and Reagan on their

behind the scenes negotiation with the Iranians?

[yardwork]

23. This is a really good question!

I was angry at the time that we gave them a pass on Iran-Contra.

At the time, people were saying, "Oh no, not another Watergate!" There was a reluctance to get into it.

Also, Reagan seemed clueless in a harmless sort of way, rather than evil and conniving.

I thought that Iran-Contra would do Poppy in, since it was clear even back then that he was involved up to his eyeballs.

Dukakis ran a feeble campaign, and the press was hard on him. Really, though, it's too bad that the Democrats didn't run a better candidate against Bush I. The press never liked Poppy much. We shouldn't have elected him. Well, I voted against him!

[cornfedyank]

30. that is when nightline first came on the air.

J.C. was painted as weak on defense. the rescue attempt failed at "desert one". interest rates were very high,in the teens.

i never understood the weak on defense charge. Carter had been in the Navy.

[HawkerHurricane]

11. Carter Failed...

because he was unable to get anything accomplished.

He lost reelection because he lost votes to the left AND right (went left in the primaries to beat Kennedy, losing moderates to Anderson, but he had been a fairly moderate President, so lefties wouldn't vote for him).

[JohnnyFianna1]

13. Seems kinda like today, Kerry losing lefty votes to Nader.

[HawkerHurricane]

15. Kinda.

Carter was actually quite conservative, which always amused me to hear Repukes trying to call him a far left liberal. Southern Democrats are the most conservative wing of the party, then and now.

[MrSlayer]

14. He lacked vision and purpose.

And he made blunder after blunder. Gave away the Panama Canal, let Castro empty his prisons into Florida, The Iran hostage situation. Of course the deal with Iran to hold the hostages is well known. The Repubs promised to sell them TOW missiles if they waited until after the election to release. If anything Carter was too nice and too decent.

[yardwork]

24. I forgot about the Mariel boat lift!

South Florida was furious with Carter about that. It helped drive the state far-right.

[cornfedyank]

34. giving away the canal was big. i had forgot that issue

those things made him look weak. people did not want weak. look at the big deal reagan made over knocking off granada.

[HooptieWagon]

16. My impression

was that Carter erred in bringing his guys from Georgia to Washington. They advised him poorly, and as a whole, the Carter administration did not have the connections in Washington to work with Congress to get things done.

[No2W2004]

17. Jimmy Carter's Malaise Speech, 1979

From Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States Jimmy Carter 1979, Book II. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1980. 1235-1241.

This is a special night for me. Exactly 3 years ago, on July 15, 1976, I accepted the nomination of my party to run for President of the United States. I promised you a President who is not isolated from the people, who feels your pain, and who shares your dreams and who draws his strength and his wisdom from you.

During the past 3 years I've spoken to you on many occasions about national concerns, the energy crisis, reorganizing the Government, our Nation's economy, and issues of war and especially peace. . . .

Ten days ago I had planned to speak to you again a very important subject--energy. For the fifth time I would have described the urgency of the problem and laid out a series of legislation recommendations to the Congress. But as I was preparing to speak, I began to ask myself the same question that I now know has been troubling many of you. Why have we been able to get together as a nation to resolve our serious energy a problem?

It's clear that the true problem of our Nation are much deeper--deeper than gasoline lines or energy shortages, deeper even than inflation or recession. . . .

I know, of course, being President, that government actions and legislation can be very important. That's why I've worked hard to put my campaign promises into law--and I have to admit, with just mixed success. But after listening to the American people I have been reminded again that all the legislation in the world can't fix what's wrong with America. So, I want to speak to you first tonight about a subject even more serious than energy or inflation. I want to talk to you right now about a fundamental threat to American democracy.

I do not mean our political and civil liberties. They will endure. And I do not refer to the outward strength of America, a nation that is at peace tonight everywhere in the world, with unmatched economic power and military might.

The threat is nearly invisible in ordinary ways. It is a crisis that strikes at the very heart and soul and spirit of our national will. We can see this crisis in the growing doubt about the meaning f 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 the political fabric of America. . . .

In a nation that was proud of hard work, strong families, close-knit communities, and our faith in God, too many of us now tend to worship self-indulgence and consumption. Human identity is no longer defined by what one does, but by what one owns. But we've discovered that owning things and consuming things does not satisfy our longing for meaning. We've learned that piling up material goods cannot fill the emptiness of lives which have no confidence or purpose.

The symptoms of this crisis of the American spirit are all around us. For the first time in the history of our country a majority of our people believe that the next five years will be worse than the past five years. Two-thirds of our people do not even vote. The productivity of American workers is actually dropping, and the willingness of Americans to save for the future has fallen below that of all other people in the Western world.

As you know, there is a growing disrespect for government and for churches and for schools, the news media, and other institutions. This is not a message of happiness or reassurance, but it is the truth and it is a warning.

These changes did not happen overnight. They've come upon us gradually over the last generation, years that were filled with shocks and tragedy.

We were sure that ours was a nation of the ballot, not the bullet, until the murders of John Kennedy and Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr. We were taught that our armies were always invincible and our causes were always just, only to suffer the agony of Vietnam. We respected the Presidency as a place of honor until the shock of Watergate.

We remember when the phrase "sound as a dollar" was an expression of absolute dependability, until 10 years of inflation began to shrink our dollar and our savings. We believed that our Nation's resources were limitless until 1973, when we had to face a growing dependence on foreign oil.

These wounds are still very deep. They have never been healed.

Looking for a way out of this crisis, our people have turned to the Federal Government and found it isolated from the mainstream of our Nation's life. . . .

What you see too often in Washington and elsewhere around the country is a system of government that seems incapable of action. . . .

Often you see paralysis and stagnation and drift. You don't like it, and neither do I. What can we do?

First of all, we must face the truth, and then we can change our course. We simply must have faith in each other, faith in our ability to govern ourselves, and faith in the future of this Nation. Restoring that faith and that confidence to America is now the most important task we face. It is a true challenge of this generation of Americans. . . .

We are at a turning point in our history. There are two paths to choose. One is a path I've warned about tonight, the path that leads to fragmentation and self-interest. Down that road lies a mistaken idea of freedom, the right to grasp for ourselves some advantage over others. That path would be one of constant conflict between narrow interests ending in chaos and immobility. It is a certain route to failure.

All the traditions of our past, all the lessons of our heritage, all the promises of our future point to another path, the path of common purpose and the restoration of American values. That path leads to true freedom for our Nation and ourselves. We can take the first steps down that path as we begin to solve our energy problem.

(more)
http://www.wadsworth.com/history_d/special_features/ext/ap/chapter30/30.4.cartersspeech.html

[No2W2004]

19. While Carter was delivering this speach,

Regan was on the stump, reasuring Americans that everything was fine, and using false words to make people feel better.

Carter was too honest to be a player in Washington DC

[yardwork]

27. Thanks for posting this!

This speech was widely derided and mocked at the time, but read in light of our situation today, it looks highly prescient.

We have fallen into a time of "fragmentation and self-interest."

I think of Jimmy Carter as a "Sermon on the Mountain" Christian. In fact, he was also widely mocked for mentioning the idea of "lusting in his heart," which is straight from Jesus's speech. Most people don't want to hear the difficult things. They don't want to be told that obeying the Ten Commandments (more or less) is not enough - we have to try even harder than that.

In some ways, Reagan could be compared to the Devil, whispering easy lies in America's ears. "Everything's ok. You don't have to work hard. Elect me and it will be morning in America."

Faced with a choice between old grandpa and the strict Southern Baptist, people predictably chose the easy way!

[Lydia Leftcoast]

28. In other words, Jimmy Carter told the truth,

a truth that Americans were unwilling to hear.

On the other hand, the fact that he was a Washington outsider actually worked against him, because he didn't know which Congressional and Senate egos he had to stroke to get anything done.

[MrPrax]

31. Thx...

Good memory...

[MikeG]

18. 444 days of "America Held Hostage". Thank you Ted Koppel.

I didn't see any of that for the hostages held during the Reagan Administration.

[RoyGBiv]

20. The 1980 Election

The 1980 election was something of a watershed in American politics, what's known as a realignment. Technically, it wasn't full-scale realignment like what took place in 1933, but it had some of the same characteristics. A lot of different forces were battling it out on the stage and trying to come to terms with the legacies of the 60's and 70's. For that reason, Carter's loss is very complicated.

But, there were some striking issues:

First, the economy was in the toilet. This wasn't exactly Carter's fault since he inherited a great deal from Ford, and by the time of the election things were improving moderately, but not enough to satisfy the large group of people that became known as Reagan Democrats. Reagan used his famous line, "Are you better off now than you were four years ago?" to place Carter's economic policies, which had been geared towards long-term improvements, in a negative light. Americans have very little patience for these sorts of things anyway, but Reagan set the bar even lower: if the President didn't fix everything in four years, get rid of him.

Second, there was the face-off with the Iranians over the hostage crisis, from which the "October Surprise" conspiracy theory developed. (It basically goes that Reagan feared Carter springing an "October Surprise" by brining home the hostages on the eve of the election and worked to make sure this didn't happen until after he was safely in office.) That whole thing made Carter appear weak on the international stage and erased his previous brilliant successes, and since relations with the Soviets were running on the hotter side of the scale, this was a huge issue. Reagan was in fact somewhat responsible for refining the perception of Democrats being soft on defense by exploiting this.

Then there was Ted Kennedy. Now, I really like Kennedy, but in that election, he did what some people today keep hoping Dean or Kucinich would do -- use the convention to promote the more liberal agenda. Kennedy pretty much hijacked it and tried to make it a test of party loyalty to support the planks he demanded be placed into the Democratic Party platform. This helped to split the Democrats and gave rise to the previously mentioned Reagan Democrats that voted against the party in the general election.

The candidacy of John Anderson as an independent complicated matters even more, as he took away a not insignificant number of votes from moderate Republicans. Had Kennedy vs. Carter not opened so many huge rifts in the Democratic party, it probably would have doomed the Republicans. But, that's speculation.

Anyway, that's my general theory on the whole thing.

[tritsofme]

21. One word: Malaise

nt

[Snoggera]

22. Carter was the first major recipient of the GOP award

for being a caring, intelligent HUMAN being. The consequences of this award include vast dissemination of lies and behind the scenes manipulation.

Reagan "won" because he worked out a deal with the Iranians. And, in the meantime, presented himself as mr. everybody.

The 70's were years of inflation, gas prices skyrocketing and hostages.

Of course, if it was Reagan that was pres at the time, he and the media would have spun it in a positive way.

Deficits, hostages, inflation and war are GOOD things. It's the republican way.

[unblock]

25. several points here

1) carter was not especially liberal. he was very pointedly a southern democrat and made pointed distinctions between himself as such and the northern liberals. by the metrics of the time, he was a moderate, actually fairly conservative for a democrat. today's politics have skewed things here so by today's standards, he was radically liberal.

2) carter was popularity was not as low as people like to recall, in part because republicans never stopped campaigning against carter. they STILL bring up his name. since 1980, he's had nearly a quarter century of bad press. other than the habitat for humanity thing, that is.

3) carter picked a very unfortunate time to be president. he happened to be in office during the aftermath of the oil shocks under nixon and ford. inflation got on firm footing under ford (remember "win: whip inflation now"?) but the sh*t really hit the fan when paul volker, the alan greenspan of the day, decided to end inflation once and for all by jacking up interest rates to the moon. short-term interest rates were something insane like 14%. it brought the economy to its knees, and therefore brought inflation to a dead stop. but what a price to pay.

4) carter picked a very unfortunate time to be president for another reason: the iranian hostage crisis. no one has ever suggested that the hostage crisis wouldn't have happened under any other president. but carter appeared inept, or at least incapable of making progress. there was a botched rescue attempt where some helicopters couldn't even get off the ground without having some kind of accident. i think several service members died in that attempt without ever even entering iranian airspace.

5) nightline. that's right, ted koppel's program got its start as a series of broadcasts exclusively about the iranian hostage crisis. it went on for 444 days, until they were freed minutes after reagan was sworn in. for 444 days EVERY SINGLE BROADCAST was about the iranian hostage crisis. not like today where it's a different topic each night. no. EVERY SINGLE BROADCAST was about the hostages. toward the end, they were interviewing the neighbors of the guy who used to carpool with someone who used to see one of the hostages walk his dog.

6) the christian coalition, and other early organizations now known collectively as the mighty wurlitzer, were getting into place. primordial ditto-heads were being installed in the media, in state offices, and so on. some of the dissent-silencing tactics in full force today were getting their start during reagan's tenure.

7) reagan was never as popular as he is made out to be today. he was wildly UNpopular during the recession of the early 80's and only got a sympathy bounce from the assassination attempt. he left office in 1989 with a popularity pretty similar to carter's. but he had the luck to run against mondale, who was a very, very bad choice as a presidential nominee in the television age. he simply could not come close to connecting with people the way reagan could.

8) reagan has been heavily promoted since he left office. part of the mighty wurlitzer works to enshrine him as an american saint. no one has a real agenda against him since he's no longer in power, so all the press is p.r. in favor of him. further evidence of the right-wing bias in the media -- all about reagan is praise, all about carter is insults.


as far as the record goes, the reagan administration had more criminals indicted and convicted than any presidency ever. meanwhile, carter brokered a peace deal that garnered a nobel prize.

had reagan won instead in 1976, carter might have won in 1980, and the world today would be a very, very different place.

[tritsofme]

35. Carter actually was as unpopular as I remember.

I voted for him twice, but in all of 1980 he was not popular in the least.

After February of that year he could not keep his approval rating above 40%

Everything else you mention bring up very good points.

[leesa]

26. Carter failed because the media said so.

I don't think he's a born again, I think he only had to do it once. Carter was betrayed by the military and the GOP during the hostage fiasco. Much like when Kissenger interfered with the Paris Peace talks during the VietNam war causing the disruption of the peace talks and the derailing of Nixon's political opponent.
GOPers will not hesitate to perform any type of lying stealing murdering business to make certain they win.

[DrWeird]

29. The Onion said it best re: 1980 election.

Carter: "let's talk better fuel effeciency."

Reagan: "Kill the bastards!"

[underpants]

33. Weakened office of the Presidency and too much micromanaging

As per anyone he probably would have done things different given hindsight. The story goes that he was so involved in the day to day that he scheduled the tennis court times.


He did one of the major things to bring down the Soviet Union which was the grain embargo but then he shouldn't have wasted four years of athletes lives by boycotting the Moscow Olympics in '80 (thus setting up the GLORIOUS '84 Soviet-less Olympics in L.A.).

He also got SCREWED by the October surprise.

[LoZoccolo]

36. My dad was saying...

...he didn't pick the best advisors in the country; there were a lot of people that were friends of his from his days back in Georgia.

[FDRrocks]

37. From everything I gather (which is relative infitesimal)

He worked his presidency on the small scale way too much. He was a very smart man and had great potential, but he seemed to be way too into micro management. If he had been cloned 5 times over at birth and took them into the WH with him, the turnout might've been better

[chelsea0011]

38. Awful recession, OPEC, inflation, and Iran

He could have been OK but he never was able to deal with being saddled with huge problems, none of which he could deal with. Interest rates are 5%-6% now to buy a home. I can't remember the exact numbers but the rates were double digits to high teens. Inflation is slim now but back then 7,8,10 %. Oil prices, gas lines. A truly horrid experience. Then Iran. He got wasted on that. He had some disastrous failed attempt to rescue them and then Nateline was founded with the countdown for being held hostage. If he succeeded anywhere with any problem, he may have beat RayGun. I did polling for Carter (I worked for Pat Caddell but was never told who I was polling for)and it wasn't until the night before the election that the undecideds flooded to Ray Gun and his misery index that the media just chided Kerry for.

[Cleita]

39. It was the Iranian hostage situation that did Carter in and

nothing else. When Reagan said he was going to change that situation, everyone voted for him. None of the idiots really understood anything but what the media was spinning about this. I guess they were whores even back then. My husband and I did vote for Carter for a second term, but even Democrats we knew thought Reagan was right about this even though they hated him as a Governor of California. Go figure.

[Laughing Mirror]

40. Yes. It was basically a stolen election

Reagans people paid the Iranians not to release the hostages until after the election. The bribe was accepted and honored, and Carter lost.

[Cleita]

41. Thank you for confirming this because there are those

who still believe it to be true.

[Laughing Mirror]

44. Of course it is true

I remember it very very well. I will never forget those yellow ribbons tied around those trees on the Washington Mall. People wanted those hostages home and if Reagan could bring them home, that's who they'd vote for. Of course, they did not know how, Reagan brought them home, but we do know now, don't we?

[bemildred]

43. Yep. Rigged.

Jimmy was a good Pres. as these things go.
Like Bubba, who has plenty of flaws, but was way better
than Raygun or either Bush or Nixon.

[CharlieBakerAble]

42. I don't know

But I bet 80% of the excuses you hear will blame someone other than himself.

[Laughing Mirror]

45. And so better to keep those 80 percent in the dark

Rather than get them the truth with the facts to support it.