Carter's Second Term
obama 2:29 AM
If John McCain is said to represent a "Third Bush Term", then SURELY Barack Obama represents a "Second Carter Term".
Parallels
In the Fall of 1975, Jimmy Carter was a relative unknown. Shortly thereafter, he'd risen meteorically and come from behind to clinch the Democratic nomination. He'd served one term in the State Senate, and one term as Governor before running for president.
Carter enjoyed overwhelming support of African Americans, the media, and secular christians.
Carter campaigned on a message of change, honesty, a new type of politics in Washington.
Carter's primary campaign was largely a grass roots campaign, and credit for his primary victories is largely attributed to a network of neighbors talking to one another about him in an iconic fashion. Carter's media attention helped to seal his image as an American icon. Think "Camp Obama."
Carter campaigned with broad overarching themes without much specificity and was lambasted by incumbent President Ford for lack of specificity and inability to explain his vision in concrete terms.
Jimmy Carter was known as a person who inspired many with his words. His 1976 campaign was - as described by his own staffers - not about issues, but about the image of himself and of his small-town roots, to make Americans more comfortable with him.
Repercussions
After winning the presidency in one of the narrowest margins ever, Carter took to the White House a close team of "Washington Outsiders". They were known immediately to be ineffectual, and were 'unable to deliver' on many campaign promises.
Jimmy presided over the worst energy crisis in our nation's history ever. His answer - turn down your thermostats. (read: Inflate your tires)
During Carter's administration, the economy suffered double-digit inflation, coupled with very high interest rates, oil shortages, high unemployment and slow economic growth. Productivity growth in the United States had declined to an average annual rate of 1 percent, compared to 3.2 percent of the 1960s. There was also a growing federal budget deficit which increased to 66 billion dollars. (-Wikipedia)
The Carter administration financially backed the Taliban in Afghanistan to rid the region of Russian forces in Operation Cyclone - a move that would come to haunt the USA beginning in 2001.
After completely botching foreign intervention in Iran, our relationship with the Shah culminated into the Iran Hostage Crisis, which was not resolved until the inauguration day of Ronald Reagan. Incidentally, our intervention in Iran under Carter was the first domino to fall in a long series of disastrous relations leading up to the leadership of Ahmadinejad, and an Iran dead set on acquiring nuclear weapons.
By 1979, the situation in America had become so bad that the media had turned against Carter, Liberals had become furious with carter, African Americans rejected Carter, and Ted Kennedy presented him with a serious primary challenge.
Bad economy, sky-high tax rates, double digit inflation, and poor foreign relations: these factors came together to deliver a landslide Republican victory and the coining of the term "Reagan Democrats". Carter ended his presidency known as one of the worst presidents ever, and for good reasons.
Is this a legacy we'd like to see continued?
Parallels
In the Fall of 1975, Jimmy Carter was a relative unknown. Shortly thereafter, he'd risen meteorically and come from behind to clinch the Democratic nomination. He'd served one term in the State Senate, and one term as Governor before running for president.
Carter enjoyed overwhelming support of African Americans, the media, and secular christians.
Carter campaigned on a message of change, honesty, a new type of politics in Washington.
Carter's primary campaign was largely a grass roots campaign, and credit for his primary victories is largely attributed to a network of neighbors talking to one another about him in an iconic fashion. Carter's media attention helped to seal his image as an American icon. Think "Camp Obama."
Carter campaigned with broad overarching themes without much specificity and was lambasted by incumbent President Ford for lack of specificity and inability to explain his vision in concrete terms.
Jimmy Carter was known as a person who inspired many with his words. His 1976 campaign was - as described by his own staffers - not about issues, but about the image of himself and of his small-town roots, to make Americans more comfortable with him.
Repercussions
After winning the presidency in one of the narrowest margins ever, Carter took to the White House a close team of "Washington Outsiders". They were known immediately to be ineffectual, and were 'unable to deliver' on many campaign promises.
Jimmy presided over the worst energy crisis in our nation's history ever. His answer - turn down your thermostats. (read: Inflate your tires)
During Carter's administration, the economy suffered double-digit inflation, coupled with very high interest rates, oil shortages, high unemployment and slow economic growth. Productivity growth in the United States had declined to an average annual rate of 1 percent, compared to 3.2 percent of the 1960s. There was also a growing federal budget deficit which increased to 66 billion dollars. (-Wikipedia)
The Carter administration financially backed the Taliban in Afghanistan to rid the region of Russian forces in Operation Cyclone - a move that would come to haunt the USA beginning in 2001.
After completely botching foreign intervention in Iran, our relationship with the Shah culminated into the Iran Hostage Crisis, which was not resolved until the inauguration day of Ronald Reagan. Incidentally, our intervention in Iran under Carter was the first domino to fall in a long series of disastrous relations leading up to the leadership of Ahmadinejad, and an Iran dead set on acquiring nuclear weapons.
By 1979, the situation in America had become so bad that the media had turned against Carter, Liberals had become furious with carter, African Americans rejected Carter, and Ted Kennedy presented him with a serious primary challenge.
Bad economy, sky-high tax rates, double digit inflation, and poor foreign relations: these factors came together to deliver a landslide Republican victory and the coining of the term "Reagan Democrats". Carter ended his presidency known as one of the worst presidents ever, and for good reasons.
Is this a legacy we'd like to see continued?
Posted by Nick Stone
on 2:29 AM.
Filed under
Posts
Honestly, you are just delusional nowadays.
In case you were unaware, this attack was used against Obama several months ago. It didn't work then and it won't work now.
'Make-Believe Maverick"
by Tim Dickinson, Rolling Stone
"This is the story of the real John McCain, the one who has been hiding in plain sight. It is the story of a man who has consistently put his own advancement above all else, a man willing to say and do anything to achieve his ultimate ambition: to become commander in chief, ascending to the one position that would finally enable him to outrank his four-star father and grandfather.
In its broad strokes, McCain's life story is oddly similar to that of the current occupant of the White House. John Sidney McCain III and George Walker Bush both represent the third generation of American dynasties. Both were born into positions of privilege against which they rebelled into mediocrity. Both developed an uncanny social intelligence that allowed them to skate by with a minimum of mental exertion. Both struggled with booze and loutish behavior. At each step, with the aid of their fathers' powerful friends, both failed upward. And both shed their skins as Episcopalian members of the Washington elite to build political careers as self-styled, ranch-inhabiting Westerners who pray to Jesus in their wives' evangelical churches."
Nick- Why has there been no debate posts yet? Because your candidates have lost in all of them? Andrew Sullivan, who you have quoted in this very blog tonight, has this to say:
This was, I think, a mauling: a devastating and possibly electorally fatal debate for McCain. Even on Russia, he sounded a little out of it. I’ve watched a lot of debates and participated in many. I love debate and was trained as a boy in the British system to be a debater. I debated dozens of times at Oxofrd. All I can say is that, simply on terms of substance, clarity, empathy, style and authority, this has not just been an Obama victory. It has been a wipe-out.It has been about as big a wipe-out as I can remember in a presidential debate. It reminds me of the 1992 Clinton-Perot-Bush debate. I don’t really see how the McCain campaign survives this.”
Sigh... I'm always so happy when without fail my anonymous friends come to lambaste me and call me some combination of delusional/liar.
Thank you guys for not disappointing me this time, and showing up right on schedule. Please bring your friends.
I'll try to touch base with all of you in one swoop. Here goes.
First, I'm perfectly aware this parallel is not of my own creation. I was so excited and convinced when I learned of the parallels months ago, and was rather upset that they never parlayed into a full arsenal of attacks. It would have worked on those who were around for Carter's presidency. It was a mess equaled only by the Bush administration. The big and obvious difference being that Carter only took one term to do as much damage as Bush in two.
Secondly, I could not be less surprised that one of you used Rolling Stone to cherry pick commentary from. Why not pull down a piece from Obama's honorary campaign chairmen Chris Matthews or Keith Olbermann? I've said it a hundred times, and I'll continue to say it: McCain is far from a perfect candidate. But he blows BHO out of the water, and he never tried to silence my voice, and I'll reward him with my vote (unless of course the Democratic Party finds another smooth way to take my voice away like they did in the primary).
And last, I have yet to post any debate blogs. That's because I'm more interested in substance than snippets. AGAIN, this election is about Talk vs Action. We all know Obama is a better orator. So what. When it gets to be time to govern, we'll see just how well he can do. Maybe he can hire another 300 advisors to tell him what to do then. Like Carter, I predict one awful term, followed by a landslide in the other direction. You'll see.
"The big and obvious difference being that Carter only took one term to do as much damage as Bush in two."
Seriously? Cartner was not a good President but to hold him up to the high standard of fuck ups and corruption that George W. Bush has accomplished is just insulting to Carter. I mean at what point did Carter allow a terrorist attack that killed 2,000+ Americans to take place on his watch?
Or maybe I'm forgetting that time he invaded a sovereign nation to assuage a personal vendetta and make money for his oil baron friends?
Oh and who could forget the time he left an entire city flooded after a hurricane with zero response? Oh wait, again, he didn't.
"Like Carter, I predict one awful term, followed by a landslide in the other direction. You'll see."
Is that going to hold up to the same test of accuracy that your other posts seemed to have? The one about Palin being 'exactly the right choice' still has me rolling in the aisles as I read it.
normally I would hold off on personal attacks, and let the facts of McCain's nasty, failing campaign speak for me.
Normally your posts at least have some (misguided) political belief basis.
But this post reveals that you are grasping at straws, even more so than McCain. You should be embarrassed,
You gave us a wikipedia entry on Carter. That's all. And a surface one at that.
Why are Carter and Obama similar? Because they both inspire hope? They both harnessed the power of the people?
Uh, so has a large proportion of EVERY POLITICIAN IN HISTORY.
You might as well compare Obama to Hitler in that respect (and with McCain's people yelling "terrorist," "treason," and "kill him," I'm sure it won't be far behind).
You PREDICT that Obama will have the same repercussions as Carter?
Well aren't you just a political Magic 8 Ball?
Want to predict the stock market for us, too?
I could say that McCain is similar to Bush-- both were the spoiled rich kids of political dynasties, who failed in school, excelled at drinking, and adopted a faux-Christian homespun persona to advance their careers.
Which by that logic, would mean.....that a McCain presidency would have the same repercussions as a Bush one.
But you probably don't even think McCain is similar to Bush even though the FACTS point to it.
Hey Nostradamus, instead of grasping at lame character assassination attempts, and then foolishly predicting the future, why don't you predict a way for McCain to stay afloat in this election.
Cause he's sinking, baby. Sinking fast.
It always amazes me when all of these people with such strong opinions who would appearto be so passionate and dedicated to their "chosen one" can't even get up the balls to post their name. It's nice that you can stand behind a computer and anonymously spew the left liberal BS, but grow a set and put your name to your words before you even try to think that your words matter. Thats the main difference this year as Nick has stated over and over again. Talk vs. Action. It would make sense I guess that all the koolaid drinking supporters would use only words to hide behind, that's all their fearless leader is capable of.
you should read this:
http://www.slate.com/id/2202163/