Posted on 01/04/2009 3:54:37 PM PST by melt
He suffers from an egregiously unfair reputation. His record, though, shows he was quite a good president
Oakton, Va. - In this season of new resolutions, Americans would do well to rethink their perceptions of Jimmy Carter. President Carter has suffered the misfortune of having his legacy almost entirely shaped by his political enemies rather than by objective reality or a basic sense of American fairness.
Today, Carter is caricatured as a weak-kneed, sweater-wearing puritan who struggled with lust in his heart, presided over a malaised America, and micromanaged even the scheduling of the White House tennis courts. More recently, he's taken heat for his blunt portrayal of Israeli policies toward the Palestinians.
What an egregiously undeserved reputation. Carter wasn't just a "good man who got in over his head," as critics say. He was in fact quite a good president.
He kept us out of endless wars. He protected the Alaskan wilderness (Sen. Gaylord Nelson (D) of Wisconsin once told me that "Carter was the greatest environmental president the country ever had.") He promoted a visionary energy policy. He countered the Soviet military threat. And since he left office, he has persistently promoted the cause of peace around the world. The landmark Israeli-Egyptian peace treaty he fashioned remains in force today.
Against the backdrop of an unnecessary trillion-dollar war in Iraq, it is instructive to recall how Carter avoided a similar morass when he negotiated the Panama Canal treaties, for which he was excoriated by Ronald Reagan's Republicans. When he left office, he was able to say with Thomas Jefferson "[D]uring the period of my administration not a drop of the blood of a single citizen was shed by the sword of war."
In the public mind, Carter continues to be judged as "ineffectual."
(Excerpt) Read more at csmonitor.com ...
“He countered the Soviet military threat.”
May I have another, sir!
No he didn't, his daughter Amy did.
Oh, BTW it was Nuclear with the MSM friendly President Jimma' Carter.
How did “Jimma” ever make it through the Academy with such high grades? Did he becme brain dead in the early 80’s? He has been nothing but “STUPID” since ending his time in the Navy.
Really?
Gird up your loins and deal with it.
Where’s the Mega BARF alert!
well, come to think of it - just the name is a barf alert.
Carter = Malaise
He was also a White House Correspondent for the Associated Press Radio service.
He also supports the Palestinians...
Hmmmm, I seem to recall a 'war' which inflamed under Carter's administration and has continued to this day ... Islamic Jihad.
"[D]uring the period of my administration not a drop of the blood of a single citizen was shed by the sword of war."
Hmmmm, I seem to recall the failed "Operation Eagle Claw" which resulted in 8 U.S. servicemen killed in an effort to rescue American hostages held at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, of which its taking was an act of war.
You might want to put down the lighter and step away from the bong. When Carter ran against Ford in 1976, inflation was running at 4.8%. Carter called this "unacceptable". When Carter left office in 1981, it was at 12.6%. It peaked at 18% during his administration (not to mention interest rates, gas lines, Cubans in Angola, Russians in Afghanistan, etc.)
Jimmy Carter is a bitter man who was a complete failure of a President. It took eight years of Reagan to fix what he had screwed up in four.
I will never forgive the bunny. He had Jimmuh in his sights and he let him get away.
“He [Jimmah] lowered the bunny population”
You’re wrong! That killer rabbit escaped the presidential oar, swam away (pix!) and then went off to do what rabbits do best - multiply!
That killer rabbit’s genes have been spread to millions of lepus progeny and they now roam the forests and lakes in search of human prey as vulnerable as Jimmah.
;^)
Anyway, when this heeshee columnist describes the opposition’s perceptions accurately and then calls them wrongheaded, then there’s something wrong in the beholder’s noggin. IMHO.
OK, so that wasn't Jimmah's fault, but what the heck, why not pile on anyways? /grin
If the little booger is going to keep coming back, we’re going to keep picking at him!
Yea right
Carter comes as close to a traitorous President - than ANY in history...
Carter's legacy is cast in stone - he's an undeniable Jew hating, Muslim owned pimp. He hasn't met a Communist or Dictator he doesn't respect...
His anger at America is driven by the fact his administration was the worse in ANY living memory or documented history -— and he blames America, not his own incompetent feckless imbecilic performance.
F'em.....and the horse he rode in on.
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