I wonder why that happened?
Posted on 07/20/2008 4:59:15 AM PDT by Oshkalaboomboom
Even here in his home state of Georgia, Jimmy Carter does not receive universal acclaim. He is regarded by many as a weak-kneed appeaser or a naive do-gooder with a puritanical bent.
Much of that reputation can be traced back to his widely noted July 1979 speech on the nation's "crisis of confidence," remembered as the "malaise" speech, though he didn't use that word. The response to that televised talk taught politicians one thing: Never ask Americans to make sacrifices. After all, it is now accepted wisdom that the speech — combined with hyperinflation, hostages and an oil spike — cost Carter a second term.
But a sober and fair look back at what Carter actually said ought to earn him higher marks. He was right when he insisted that consumers conserve energy; he was right to urge a dramatic increase in the use of solar power; he was right when he called for a cap on imported oil.
"Beginning at this moment, this nation will never use more foreign oil than we did in 1977 — never," he said. "From now on, every new addition to our demand for energy will be met from our own production and our own conservation. The generation-long growth in our dependence on foreign oil will be stopped dead in its tracks right now."
Carter also called for research into alternative fuels, massive investment in public transit and a broad campaign for conservation. He acknowledged that the new programs would require billions, but "unlike the billions of dollars that we ship to foreign countries to pay for foreign oil, these funds will be paid by Americans to Americans."
Of course, you know the rest of the story. The next year, Ronald Reagan was elected and threw out Carter's plans. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) relented, and gasoline became, once again, plentiful and cheap. So Americans pretended Carter was the problem — not our profligate consumption patterns. Today, we're importing twice as much oil as we were when Carter gave that speech.
(In the past 28 years, the nation's oil consumption has gone up by about 21 percent, but the increase might have been even sharper were it not for the 1973 oil shocks. That OPEC-induced discomfort prompted Congress to pass the first-ever corporate average fuel economy — or CAFE — standards in 1975. Between 1974 and 1989, the efficiency of a typical car sold in the U.S. almost doubled, to 27.5 miles per gallon, according to The New York Times. Since then, unfortunately, our love affair with trucks and SUVs has sent average fuel efficiency spiraling downward.)
What if the nation had stuck to the path Carter laid out? What if we had invested billions back then in public transit and alternative fuels? What if we'd made a national campaign of conservation, similar to the successful no-smoking campaign? What if we'd insisted that Detroit continue pushing up fuel efficiency?
The United States would not be held hostage by petrocrats or tied down in a volatile region of the globe. The money we send to places such as Saudi Arabia plumps the bank accounts of its many princes, who then use their billions to appease jihadists. While Afghanistan's Taliban certainly played a role in 9/11, 15 of the 19 hijackers were Saudis. Why send any of our money to them?
As recently as seven years ago, in the wake of 9/11, President Bush could have used our renewed sense of duty and patriotism to hike the gasoline tax and push through higher CAFE standards. At the time, the average cost of a gallon of gas was around $1.55. If Bush had pushed the price to $2.50, the nation would have had a huge reserve of cash to use for building public transit and finding alternative fuels. Instead, he did nothing about our addiction to oil. Even now, Bush is loath to encourage conservation. "It's a little presumptuous on my part to dictate how consumers live their own lives," he told reporters last week. "You know, people can figure out whether they need to drive more or less." Wasn't it presumptuous to invade Iraq, a country that had no part in 9/11 but does have the world's second-largest known reserves of oil?
Looking back, Carter's plan makes a lot more sense than staying tied down in the Middle East. It's time to dust off his speech and several of his energy proposals.
Hey—it’s Cynthia Tucker—one of the top reasons for the cuts at the AJC in the last go-round of a liberal bent publication.
Diversity has once again worked it's dirty little charm.
This woman is so racially biased that she only eats chocolate ice cream.
Moron!! Were we asked to sacrifice during WW2? When it's necessary and the reasons are compelling AND there have to be choices made, then Americans will do what is necessary. In this case however the means to mitigate our energy price problems sits within our reach, here in America and off shore.
Sacrifice for the common good is one thing but sacrifice for the benefit of a political agenda is something entirely different.
Ms Tucker is a moron. Carter was a disaster in every sense.
Also, poster is correct. The whackos that elected Carter have been the sand in the oil for these 30 years.
Oh, Cynthia... Nothing you can say, write, or intimate can turn the reputation of that little man, the worst president of the 20th Century, into anything more than that legacy: appeaser, sympathizer to despots and terrorists, anti-capitalist, anti-free market, demagogue (as all Dem leaders seem to qualify), and liar (despite his “I’ll never lie to ya!” promise).
When Carter made the malaise speech, the prime rate was around 14% and unemployment was round 10%, so calling for these further growth-limiting steps in energy policy were not timed for 1979. His speech was exactly unique, either: I recently found a National Geographic from the same era that was focusing on the energy crisis and our dependence on Middle East Oil, so nothing unique from Mr. “Watch Out for the Mad Hatter Rabbit” President Carter.
If Mr. Carter really wanted to reverse his legacy, he’d make a nationally televised speech: apologizing for all of his acts since leaving the White House and denouncing all of his hair-brained ideas that he’s promoted since 1976. Maybe then he could lose that “Worst President” status that he so justly has earned.
I wonder why that happened?
Nuf said.
It. Was. An. Oil. Embargo.
Idiot writer. When they have their facts wrong that early in the article, there's no sense in reading further. If he wants to reflect soberly on Carter's energy policy, he needs to lay off the sauce and maybe join AA.
Oh. Sorry. Didn’t read the author’s name. SHE needs to lay off the sauce and maybe join AA.
Wow, A CIC who thinks people can think on their own without the "government" doing it for them or making them
Wasn't it presumptuous to invade Iraq, a country that had no part in 9/11 but does have the world's second-largest known reserves of oil?
Liberals just can't help themselves can they??
One day Miss Tucker, you moronic liberal moonbat, you will look back and say, thank God we liberated Iraq so we have a friendly oil producing country who we can depend on 'cause we aren't getting out of the mess any time real soon, we better have friends who produce lots of oil to keep you in your townie home in Atlanta
YIKES.
If Bush had hiked the gas tax that high in 2001 the brain dead public would have nodded sagely to one another as they blamed the Vast Bush/Cheney/Halliburton Conspiracy. THEN he would have been impeached, lynched, and buried in an unmarked grave.
This is the typical Democrat response to any problem. Just tax the hell out of the problem, raise the price until it's prohibitive, and use the pilfered loot to spend on programs in their home states.
Cynthia doesn't realize that such a giant tax increase on fuels would have created the problems we are having now, only it would have started 7 years ago. I guess she was hoping that the 2001 oil price crunch would have torpedoed Bush's prospects for a second term.
There are people in America today who are overjoyed that gasoline is $4 a gallon, and who want to see it go up to $10 if possible.
They don't care that it would severely damage the capitalist economy and derail American commerce, because that is exactly what they want to happen. These are the same people crying wolf about global warming, for the same reasons.
One way or another, we are stuck with relying on oil for much of our transportation for the next 25 years, even with all the research programs they can fund. It's going to take time to transition to alternative energy, especially for trucks and cars. The Dems should get a clue that we need a secure supply of oil at reasonable prices to be able to get by while we develop alternative energy. Ditto for coal and nuclear. They can chase unicorns at great length while the country breathes easier with affordable gas.
Please tell me that an individual NOT a retard didn’t write this.
Someone with brains between the ears could NOT have possibly used such tortured logic, tell me it ain’t so?
First....let’s get this out of the way because I, as expected, am NOT a retard. WASTE is nature’s enemy. Notice please that nature NEVER wastes anything. Even our poop is put to great use, rotton organic matter such as leaves and vegetables can be composted to complete appreciation of living plants struggling to grow.
We GET waste out here in la-la and the more rational amongst us do NOT waste if for no other reason but the cost to our pocketbooks. Quit accusing Americans of such a thing. It gets real old real quick.
Next, mass transit is NOT going to work in this great big country so quit saying it. Belgium, for instance, is a small enough country that trains and buses in the cities might serve it fine. But it’s entirely a waste of time to try and build a mass transit system that will easily transport our citizens from Delaware to Iowa or from New Mexico to Idaho. It’s called common sense. Save a few big cities, mass transport will not work in this big country.
Back when our congress enacted the mighty Interstate system, we all made a deal. America’s prosperity would be built on our citizens’ ability to go anywhere they wanted, when they wanted, carrying items easily as opposed to lugging sand buckets and beach toys on a damn bus. Our legislators de facto agreed that the best way for our economy to boom is to allow movement easily and cheaply. Many folks moved to the suburbs based on that premise and while they might only be thirty to forty miles from their job, few suburbs are effectively served by any sort of mass transit or can they be.
Let’s not forget Jimmy Carter’s love of the fireplace and how he used to start fires at Camp David after cranking up the air conditioner. THAT, yon ladies and gems, is WASTE.
Oh, and please don’t forget...NO CHRISTMAS LIGHTS!
We have plenty of oil and gas in our own country and no one’s going to convince us fools out here in la-la land who carry this country on our backs whilst raising the citizens and soldiers of tomorrow that we shouldn’t go after our own damn resources. We’ve got common sense, something the political elite, AND this pathetic excuse of a “thinker” writing such stupidity, do not have.
Every pubbie with gonads (which eliminates most of them) should march out to the public and ask the Dems against drilling in our own country...WHY? Ask them over and over and over and over again. At every opportunity, every interview, every sound byte, look that camera straight on and say “WHY can’t we drill in our own country?”
Let them obfuscate and stammer enough. Already they’re on the losing end of this argument.
Jimmy Carter....heh. Yes, I remember him well. I lived my best years through his presidency. Interest rates were 18%. Gas lines required waits of many hours to fill the tank. I bit my nails every day for fear of my job. The economy was a bust. And let’s not forget his fine foreign negotiating skills when Iran kidnapped our citizens. They were not released until the very day Reagan was inaugerated.
Trying to make Carter into some sort of wise statesman is like trying to make McCain into a conservative.
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