Is the next president - a Dem for sure - going to preside over a term like that of Jimmy Carter?

[Stinky The Clown]

First off, I love Jimmy Carter. He is a good person to his core and always has been. He is arguably our best former president ever. But his one term in the presidency was a bad time in America. I'm not sure much of it was actually Carter's fault, but there it was.

High interest rates

High fuel costs and short supply due to an embargo

A grousing, cut throat Congress

The Iran hostage crisis and the failed rescue.

The country, at that time, was finally getting over the Nixon (and Ford) years, the Viet Nam war, and the rancor in the country was at least as bad as it is now.

Is the next Democratic president destined for the same sort of presidency?

Our problems are different, but no less structural than when Carter took office. In fact, our problems may be worse than when he took office. The economy is in decline. Fuel costs are through the roof. Interest rates, while low, are a reflection of a very weak economy and a housing bust. Our international stature is lower than its been in a long while ..... maybe ever. The jobs that left the country in the last seven years really are not about to come back. We have to build new ones in whole new industries. And that takes time. Seeds sewn by the next president are more likely to sprout in the term of his or her successor. If there's no early germination, could that successor - just one term hence - be a Republican?

I've seen posts here from time to time asking if we maybe ought not let the Republicans have it this time and watch them sink in the muck and mire created by the worst example of unfettered Republicanism ever.

Personally, I want the white house and I want it now. I have more than a modicum of faith that our way will out and we can turn things around in one term. At least around enough to hang on to power for a second term.

What do you think?

[candice]

1. Jimmy Carter didn't have the Washington connections...

...it takes someone who understands how Washington works and knows and cares about the nitty gritty of politics to make a difference.

Bill Clinton had a similar background to Carter, but survived for a second term. John McCain has a resume. Hillary Clinton has a resume.

[stillcool]

3. I guess it depends on what "connections"

are important to the voter.

[Jack Rabbit]

2. Bite your tongue

It will be a term like Roosevelt's.

[Stinky The Clown]

4. We can only hope

Roll back term limits and let's have a 16 year run!

That would be wonderful.

[eridani]

8. Only if people push on the Congress and the president from below n/t

[AndyTiedye]

5. We are in Much Worse Shape Now Than We Were in 1976

Much of the damage Bush** has done to the country can NEVER be repaired.

Letting them damage the country even more for 4 MORE years is not a good option at all.
Unfortunately, we may not have a choice.
It is far from clear that we can win this one.

[Glorfindel]

6. Probably not...

there is no Iran remaining to collapse and take American diplomats hostage. EVERYONE hates us now. Another hostile government would be just, "ho-hum, so what's new?" Also, there's no Walter Cronkite to say, "America held hostage: Day 318," or whatever. I detest that man, and always will. Everything else is so awful, practically anything would be an improvement.

[EFerrari]

7. The parallel I see is the party being extra cautious

after being out of power.

[TahitiNut]

9. Not to mention the party's internal power struggle ... then like now.

IMHO, the more seminal fight is internal to the party. The forces, however, are similar to what's external. In fact, the orchestrated failures of the Carter administration benefited the 'conservative' wing (i.e. corporatists) of the party, like now. Just ask yourself, how many times have the right-wing 'Dems' pointed to Carter and claimed that his loss to Reagan "PROVED" that "liberalism" was no longer a winning posture??? Handy that. :eyes:

[WinkyDink]

10. No hostage died. Interest rates on SAVINGS reached 18%. Fuel costs NOTHING like today's.

Housing costs MUCH less expensive (didn't start soaring here until ca. 1985).

THE CAMP DAVID ACCORDS.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/middle_east/israel_and_the_palestinians/key_documents/1632849.stm

What do I think? I think I'm tired of so-called Democrats coming here and excoriating President Carter, that's what I think.

[Thothmes]

21. Fixed mortgage rates of 12%

[Stinky The Clown]

23. Not 12% ..... 18% .... with some spots with 21%

The issue back then was called stagflation.

[Stinky The Clown]

22. No one is exoriating him

Its funny how the slightest disagreement and everyone has to drag out their hyperbolic thesaurus.

[aquart]

11. You do get that those prices were manipulated to put Republicans in power?

All of it was completely artificial.

The high prices we have now are BECAUSE Republicans are in power and they regard it as a license to steal.

We have Hillary and Obama and neither of them is a credentialed leftist. America still ain't ready for that. But we are in dire straits and the economy is what matters. I would rather have Hillary working on that.

Whoever wins, NO RUBBERSTAMP CONGRESS. I want a lot of debate and argument.

And I want to know how these candidates plan to create jobs in America. (And I don't mean the Marianas.)

[Hippo_Tron]

12. Interest rates have a whole lot more to do with monetary policy than fiscal policy

And Carter appointed Volcker who got the interest rates under control, but unfortunately not until Carter left office.

As President there are things you can do to lower interest rates. One, you can raise taxes. Two, you can reduce spending on social programs, much of which is entitlements so you can't actually do that.

These two things require congressional approval and are politically unpopular. That's why we have a federal reserve board that doesn't have to be elected.

As far as the 1980 election goes, Carter had a troubled presidency, but also had an opponent whose bullshit America was completely willing to buy and that's a deadly combination. When your presidency is a failure, you have the fallback strategy of "it will be the apocalypse if my opponent is elected President" (see the 2004 election). Carter in fact did this by trying to paint Raygun as a warmonger and it almost worked, but Raygun had that grandfatherly perception and no alzheimers at that point.

So yea if in 2012 the GOP manages to nominate the right person and our President has as bad of a presidency as Jimmy Carter then yea we may have a problem. But honestly I don't see that happening.

[mdmc]

13. we can rule forever if we do corporations bidding

and kill off the working class. Triangulate the GOP right out of a job...

[mdmc]

14. Jimmy Carter has been the best President in my lifetime

Raygun clinton and shrub may be more popular - but they were all wrong.

[Greyhound]

15. Tell me you just made up that part about shrub being more popular than Carter.

I've been staying away from news and politics for my sanity, but last I heard he was rating in Hooverville.

[mdmc]

25. kick

glad to see the sheeple see a nude emperor

[Wizard777]

16. Are there any Bush's left in the government to sabotage the next President like they did to Carter?

[El Pinko]

17. The economic disaster Bush is leaving behind looks to be worse than '78, or even '81/'82...

I think that's why we're seeing all this desperate pump-priming by the fed and this stimulus package - to forestall the real brunt of the recession (depression) until after the election so that the democratic predident can be blamed for it.

It doesn't matter that the situation was wholly created by Bush over the last 8 years, they'll still try to pin it on him/her.


I don't envy them their job.

[bklyncowgirl]

18. It's not going to be fun having to sweep up the elephant shit

The next president will get into office, sit down behind his/her desk and discover what the real situation is.

She/he will have the choice of doing the fiscally responsible thing, (raising taxes, cutting spending) or the popular thing--stringing out a few more years of living on credit.

If he/she does the responsible thing we may very well be looking at a one term presidency unless she/he can explain to the American people why they have to sacrifice.

Carter wan unable to do it. Sadly, if we had followed the course that Jimmy Carter set, we would be well on our way to energy independence with alternative energy sources such as solar and wind an every day thing.

I am hoping that the next president will have the wisdom to do what he/she has to do to salvage what is left after Bush and the charisma and communications skills to do what she/he will need to do to get the American people on board.

[Cosmocat]

19. Absolutely ,...

You hit the nail on the head ...

Carter was a FINE president ... He did the right thing, and he told the American people the hard truth about energy ...

The next president has that choice to make, doing the right thing and forcing us to start to pay our own way, and take the heat the right wing will crank up for it ...

[blondeatlast]

24. I posted a while back that my ideal '08 candidate would be willing to be one termer.

They'll need to raise taxes responsibly and stack the SCOTUS. No matter how much better off we will be, they will be shredded by the MSM.

I'd like to see the kind of leadership that says--"I'd like to be re-elected after my term, but it's likely I won't."

[Tektonik]

20. Unless the Repubs somehow win a majority in Congress

I think we will be fine in the next four years.