Will Jimmy Carter now be looked at in a different light?

MSI Magus

MSI Magus

CAGiversary!
Feedback
83 (100%)
Was just reading a back issue of Foreign Affairs I hadn't gotten to yet. The article I am reading is about what the next American President will need to do both domestically and as a world leader. In the article it talks about energy policy and Jimmy Carter. Now I had already known about his push for more fuel efficency in the US.......but what I never knew was that he actually all the way back in his day had freaking solar panels put on the white house(if your wondering why they arnt there its because the President Republicans worship came into office and took them down, good ole Reagan!).

This makes me wonder if Carter whom up to now has been looked at as a joke might not be looked at slightly different now? I am not saying nor calling for him to go on Rushmore or be named one of the best presidents ever. However you have to give credit to a guy that all the way back in the 70s had the foresight to see that the US needed a shift away from our energy policy for economic and political reasons. Maybe Carter doesnt deserve to be listed as an amazing president.....but I think maybe its time the guy gets a little respect(hell if nothing else he deserves more then Reagan).

Thoughts?
 
I think a lot of the things that made him look like a bad president were things no president alone could do anything about. I think the good he's done outweighs the bad easily.
 
[quote name='Liquid 2']That was during the embargo though, right?[/QUOTE]

Even so how many Presidents have we seen in a crisis situation like that shrug their heads and think eh this too will pass. Carter actually had the foresight to think this isn't good and we don't want it to happen again. And I mean gas mileage ya that's a no brainer(which explains why everyone was against it and to this day is still against it)but solar panels.....that's something that even people in this day and age dont seem to understand the benefits of.
 
[quote name='Liquid 2']That was during the embargo though, right?[/QUOTE]


Ye youngins are so........... young!


Yes it was during the OPEC embargo. Which actually took place before Carter was elected. The repercussions of it doomed his presidency (well, that and a little hostage crisis in Iran).
 
[quote name='bmulligan']Ye youngins are so........... young!


Yes it was during the OPEC embargo. Which actually took place before Carter was elected. The repercussions of it doomed his presidency (well, that and a little hostage crisis in Iran).[/QUOTE]

Ya the more I read from Carter and from what I took away from my history class(that was taught be a Republican to boot!)Carter wasnt a "horrible" President.....he just came in at a very bad time.

Beats being like Reagan. A freaking joke that came in at just the right moment.
 
[quote name='MSI Magus']Ya the more I read from Carter and from what I took away from my history class(that was taught be a Republican to boot!)Carter wasnt a "horrible" President.....he just came in at a very bad time.

Beats being like Reagan. A freaking joke that came in at just the right moment.[/QUOTE]

Anyone who makes those types of critiques on Reagan knows nothing about the man.
 
[quote name='munch']Anyone who makes those types of critiques on Reagan knows nothing about the man.[/QUOTE]

Trickle down economics, war on welfare without offering counter measures, Iran Contra and the fact that he let his cronies hang......ya I know more then enough about the man. He came in when the Soviets were crumbling anyways and we were set to prosper. Many of his policies also set in place the abilty to have an immediate boom but suffer the consequences later.

He was a sad pathetic fraud that Republicans need to do THEIR research on. Sad thing is that Bush the father ends up getting blasted when in reality he was much more respectable then Reagan.
 
[quote name='MSI Magus']Trickle down economics, war on welfare without offering counter measures, Iran Contra and the fact that he let his cronies hang......ya I know more then enough about the man. He came in when the Soviets were crumbling anyways and we were set to prosper. Many of his policies also set in place the abilty to have an immediate boom but suffer the consequences later.

He was a sad pathetic fraud that Republicans need to do THEIR research on. Sad thing is that Bush the father ends up getting blasted when in reality he was much more respectable then Reagan.[/QUOTE]

I have plenty of problems with Reagan, but to claim that "the Soviets were crumbling anyways" is massively revisionist history at best.
 
[quote name='elprincipe']I have plenty of problems with Reagan, but to claim that "the Soviets were crumbling anyways" is massively revisionist history at best.[/QUOTE]

Did you mean acknowledging history at best?
 
Why do I get the feeling that some of this "he was a president doomed by the circumstances that occurred prior to entering office" is going to be the theme song for the next elected official?

Or, I suppose, the next elected Democratic official. When Republicans fuck things up, it's evidence that government can't work well, so they need to elect more Republicans to make sure government gets smaller, less intrusive, and more efficient.

Smaller, less intrusive, and more efficient. Ha. Republicans are the Scientologists of Washington.

"You still have headaches, but if you just go for OT III, you'll achieve clear!"
 
[quote name='mykevermin']Why do I get the feeling that some of this "he was a president doomed by the circumstances that occurred prior to entering office" is going to be the theme song for the next elected official?[/quote]

This is what I was talking about in another thread earlier. I find this particular thing fascinating.

Anything bad going on in any given administration gets blamed on the administration before it. Anything good, they will obviously take all the credit for (regardless of some policies having multi-year lag).

I am anxiously awaiting the upcoming new administration's un-official motto of "Everything good going was us. The stuff still shitty, was them".

Good times. For those tired of hearing blame Bush rhetoric from Obama supporters in this election, I predict it will only get much worse the next 4 years.
 
[quote name='mykevermin']Why do I get the feeling that some of this "he was a president doomed by the circumstances that occurred prior to entering office" is going to be the theme song for the next elected official?

Or, I suppose, the next elected Democratic official. When Republicans fuck things up, it's evidence that government can't work well, so they need to elect more Republicans to make sure government gets smaller, less intrusive, and more efficient.

Smaller, less intrusive, and more efficient. Ha. Republicans are the Scientologists of Washington.

"You still have headaches, but if you just go for OT III, you'll achieve clear!"[/QUOTE]

Regardless of if the next President is McCain or Obama it is fair to say that even though their Presidency isnt doomed its going to take more skill then any President ever to get accomplished what needs to be done....and a pinch of luck to boot. I mean a 10 trillion deficit, 2 wars, an economy in crisis, global climate change and a world that hates America and no longer cares to work with us.

Thats a bit plate.
 
Didn't somebody make a clip of past presidents ALL of whom claimed that their policies would achieve energy independence within 20 years or so? I think it was Carter, Reagan, Bush, Clinton, W.

I seem to remember Carter claiming energy independence around 1985 (like, speech in 70's, claiming by 1985)
 
[quote name='paddlefoot']Didn't somebody make a clip of past presidents ALL of whom claimed that their policies would achieve energy independence within 20 years or so? I think it was Carter, Reagan, Bush, Clinton, W.

I seem to remember Carter claiming energy independence around 1985 (like, speech in 70's, claiming by 1985)[/QUOTE]

Well yeah. That's something you have to claim if you even want to run for president in modern times.
 
[quote name='paddlefoot']Didn't somebody make a clip of past presidents ALL of whom claimed that their policies would achieve energy independence within 20 years or so? I think it was Carter, Reagan, Bush, Clinton, W.

I seem to remember Carter claiming energy independence around 1985 (like, speech in 70's, claiming by 1985)[/QUOTE]

Difference is that Carter actually did stuff like the solar panels and telling Americans they would need to sacrafice while new gas mileage was put in place.....where as people like Reagan actually set us back and Clinton just ignored the problem.

Carter didnt just talk the talk he did unpopular(at the time)and "crazy" things vs just talking about them.
 
[quote name='paddlefoot']Didn't somebody make a clip of past presidents ALL of whom claimed that their policies would achieve energy independence within 20 years or so? I think it was Carter, Reagan, Bush, Clinton, W.

I seem to remember Carter claiming energy independence around 1985 (like, speech in 70's, claiming by 1985)[/QUOTE]

This?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWZ_4EXeyaA
 
Last edited by a moderator:
[quote name='mykevermin']Why do I get the feeling that some of this "he was a president doomed by the circumstances that occurred prior to entering office" is going to be the theme song for the next elected official?

Or, I suppose, the next elected Democratic official. When Republicans fuck things up, it's evidence that government can't work well, so they need to elect more Republicans to make sure government gets smaller, less intrusive, and more efficient.

Smaller, less intrusive, and more efficient. Ha. Republicans are the Scientologists of Washington.

"You still have headaches, but if you just go for OT III, you'll achieve clear!"[/QUOTE]

Meh, we all know (or should know) that both parties do this constantly. Everything that went right is to our credit, everything that went wrong is because the other guys fucked it up. It's straight out of Politics 101. Why do you think Bush blamed Clinton's policies for 9/11? It takes a brave soul in politics to admit he was wrong. The most recent example is probably Rep. Artur Davis (D-AL) admitting that maybe, just maybe, Democrats in Congress were wrong to resist stronger oversight of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Of course, you won't see him in the congressional leadership anytime soon.
 
The topic title gave me a good laugh. I'm sorry, but no.

The best thing he's ever done is Habitat for Humanity. He was a lousy President.
 
[quote name='elprincipe']Meh, we all know (or should know) that both parties do this constantly. Everything that went right is to our credit, everything that went wrong is because the other guys fucked it up. It's straight out of Politics 101. Why do you think Bush blamed Clinton's policies for 9/11? It takes a brave soul in politics to admit he was wrong. The most recent example is probably Rep. Artur Davis (D-AL) admitting that maybe, just maybe, Democrats in Congress were wrong to resist stronger oversight of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Of course, you won't see him in the congressional leadership anytime soon.[/QUOTE]

Now, I understand what you and thrust are trying to say, and won't argue, for even a moment, that any politician wouldn't take advantage of the opportunity to pawn off responsibility for fucking things up.

But my point is that the country is in a spot right now that it hasn't been in during an election year in god only knows how long. My point is that the next few years, irrespective of who is elected, are going to be spent fixing, or attempting to fix, the 8 years of astoundingly idiotic Bush administration fuckups. The next president isn't starting from square one. They're going to be starting at square -140, with a sumo wrestler on their back and bear traps clamped to their ankles.

And they're going to be expected to run the 100m hurdle in 17 seconds.
 
[quote name='mykevermin']
But my point is that the country is in a spot right now that it hasn't been in during an election year in god only knows how long. My point is that the next few years, irrespective of who is elected, are going to be spent fixing, or attempting to fix, the 8 years of astoundingly idiotic Bush administration fuckups. The next president isn't starting from square one. They're going to be starting at square -140, with a sumo wrestler on their back and bear traps clamped to their ankles.

And they're going to be expected to run the 100m hurdle in 17 seconds.[/QUOTE]

While my opinion varies a little from yours in the degree of the fuck up and the degree in which Bush and his administration is responsible and for what, I do agree with you.

I just hope that the Obama administration, and all Democrats for that matter, can give us a breath of fresh air by not constantly living in the past and crying about how bad bush did this and how bad Republicans did that. If they can make things better, then great. But nobody likes a sour-puss, even if they do good things.
 
Ha. Good luck with that.

And we still have Nov. 4th to get through, so let's not prematurely use the phrase "Obama Administration." There's tricks up some sleeves yet, man.
 
[quote name='thrustbucket']I just hope that the Obama administration, and all Democrats for that matter, can give us a breath of fresh air by not constantly living in the past and crying about how bad bush did this and how bad Republicans did that. If they can make things better, then great. But nobody likes a sour-puss, even if they do good things.[/QUOTE]
I couldn't agree more. Here's hoping pragmatism wins out over the urge to crush their foes into paste.

That was one of the biggest reasons I couldn't vote for Hillary. I had this overwhelming belief that the first year was going to be one long revenge taking ceremony.
 
[quote name='thrustbucket']While my opinion varies a little from yours in the degree of the fuck up and the degree in which Bush and his administration is responsible and for what, I do agree with you.

I just hope that the Obama administration, and all Democrats for that matter, can give us a breath of fresh air by not constantly living in the past and crying about how bad bush did this and how bad Republicans did that. If they can make things better, then great. But nobody likes a sour-puss, even if they do good things.[/quote]

I just hope when they blame the past administration that they actually fix problems. I am sure there are Republicans out there who would like to believe that this economic downturn is all Bill Clinton's fault. They blamed him for all their problems for years, and all it did was deflect blame for their failures.
 
[quote name='mykevermin']Now, I understand what you and thrust are trying to say, and won't argue, for even a moment, that any politician wouldn't take advantage of the opportunity to pawn off responsibility for fucking things up.

But my point is that the country is in a spot right now that it hasn't been in during an election year in god only knows how long. My point is that the next few years, irrespective of who is elected, are going to be spent fixing, or attempting to fix, the 8 years of astoundingly idiotic Bush administration fuckups. The next president isn't starting from square one. They're going to be starting at square -140, with a sumo wrestler on their back and bear traps clamped to their ankles.

And they're going to be expected to run the 100m hurdle in 17 seconds.[/QUOTE]

While I have plenty of criticism of the bankrupt and incompetent Bush administration, I don't think it has been nearly as bad as you do...although most here would probably be closer to your viewpoint. Anyway, you are undoubtedly correct that the next president is going to have to be either amazingly successful very quickly or be seen (at least for a while) as a disappointment.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
bread's done
Back
Top