Jimmy Carter and the Two Types of Americans

Columnist Ron Hart writes:

Americans fall into two distinct categories today: those who remember how devastating the policies of Jimmy Carter were, and those who are about to find out.

Whole thing here.

I'll say this much for Carter: Deregulation of airline prices and, even more important, interstate trucking took place under him. And brother Billy was a great character, especially for a tarmac-whizzing would-be arms dealer.

Comments

[cunnivore]

It's kind of unfair to blame Carter for having the misfortune to follow LBJ and Nixon's disastrous economic policies. He just got left holding the bag when the music stopped playing, to use a mixed metaphor.

[BDB]

"cunnivore | February 17, 2009, 11:12am | #
It's kind of unfair to blame Carter for having the misfortune to follow LBJ and Nixon's disastrous economic policies. He just got left holding the bag when the music stopped playing, to use a mixed metaphor."

This.

[Roscoe]

"It's kind of unfair to blame Carter for having the misfortune to follow LBJ and Nixon's disastrous economic policies."

Total BS. I was there. He simply sucked.

[kinnath]

We need more rabbits!

[Terri]

Hart is a damn fine writer with a libertarian bent. His humor makes our point with the masses. He is in our Jacksonville FL paper and they love him.

I loved his line that the Fed's debt is like giving American octuplets.

[Naga Sadow]

What? That guy who built homes was a US president at one time?

[TER]

In our paper he lead with this :
"Republican Senator James Inhofe said the economic recovery bill is 93 percent spending and 7 percent stimulation, which, coincidentally, is the exact same formula used to bring Nancy Pelosi to orgasm." - Seth Meyers

[Mike M.]

But we can definitely blame him for his fecklessness in allowing the radical Islamists to take over Iran and hold our people hostage for 444 days.

[Naga Sadow]

Mike M.,

Personally I would give him props for not turning Iran into a glass lake through which we could then "get us some of that oil stuff".

[Reinmoose]

Hart is a damn fine writer

excerpt from his collumn:
"Obama is just trying to do something, even if it wrong."

What happened to editing?

[cunnivore]

Oh, I'm sure he sucked. Name a president who hasn't! But even if he were a LibertarianSuperman the late 70s would have been an economic disaster.

Even St. Ronald had a terrible recession for the first three years of his presidency, yet no one writes quotes like the one above about him.

[Jimmy Carter]

No really, America, I sucked as your president.

[Seward]

I have to agree with cunnivore; the chickens came home to roost re: the failed political economy prescriptions of the original Keynesian consensus. That was going to happen to anyone who was elected in 1976.

[Off Topic]

Someone gave Suge Knight a beat-down. Put him in the hospital. Sweet!

[Naga Sadow]

Leave it to peanut farmers to fuck shit up.

[The Extispicator]

Some people are better ex-Presidents than Presidents.

[Naga Sadow]

I told Suge to pay up! I was congenial about it but then he tried to make a fool outta me by refusing to pay at the agreed upon time! Link

[domoarrigato]

Don't he and Shifty Bill have a famously strained relationship? Is it because Bill sinned in Monica's mouth, while Jimmy confined his sins to his heart?

[WaWa]

Reinmoose--Maybe that was irony in Hart's writing. He is brilliantly funny that way.
Get it, "do something wrong"

His line about the octuplets is a good analogy.

[T]

Some people are better ex-Presidents than Presidents.

Jimmy Carter ain't one of those. He's only slightly less of a disaster as an ex-president than he was as a President.

Damn rabbit shoulda kicked his goober-grubbin' ass. Last time I send a rabbit to do a bear's job.

[Reinmoose]

Yes, I guess it could be.

His octuplet analogy is good because it speaks to people whose only concept of what's going on in the world is what they see on Dr. Phil. It could have much wider influence when put the way he put it. Now if only those people he's targeting with it didn't have to read...

[John]

"Even St. Ronald had a terrible recession for the first three years of his presidency, yet no one writes quotes like the one above about him."

That recession was the result of Volker, acting with Reagan's support, finally killing off inflation. Doing so set the stage for the boom that followed. That recession had to happen and was nothing but the price the country paid for the insane economic policies of Nixon, Ford and Carter. The recession and the aftermath of low inflatio was a feature of Reagan's first term not a bug.

[DukeOfEarl]

Yes Hart is in our paper too and is really well followed. That probably is irony.

He is a voice of reason between the left and the far right. People here do not know they are libertarians until Hart defined it for them. Now to get them to vote that way may be his next step.

[jac]

I think I still have some Billy beer around here somewhere.

[Lamar]

Jimmy Carter gets worse and worse as a president the lower GOP IQs get. To paraphrase Eliot Smith, without an enemy their anger gets confused.

[P Brooks]

Ron Hart; he doesn't suck quite as hard as Krugman (or Chapman), but he's got more annoying sockpuppets.

And- since I in the mood to nitpick:

If you write something like
Americans fall into two distinct categories today: those who remember how devastating the policies of Jimmy Carter were, and those who are about to find out.
you should probably have something about what Carter actually did in the body of the article.

[Realist]

"Is it because Bill sinned in Monica's mouth?"

WRONG! Monica sinned on Bill's cock.

[BDB]

Jimmy Carter is so far in the past now that he's not a really great target for the GOP anymore. It makes them look, well, old when they attack him.

[P Brooks]

since I in the mood to nitpick:

Me write'um good.

[P Brooks]

Alfred Kahn and Paul Volcker buy Carter a lot of slack, with me.

[Monica Lewinsky]

"WRONG! Monica sinned on Bill's cock."

And I pooped in his mouth a little...

[Calcium!]

Seriously, can someone who is old tell me that we have been this DOOMED before and been fine...I'm in need of reassurance. Was Carter really sitting on as much DOOM as Obama? Is this the same DOOM or is DOOM a fleeting and temporal thing? Old sage-heads of H&R lend me your counsel lest I succumb to DOOM.

[Lamar]

Let's also not forget that Jimmy Carter got 241 service members killed in Lebanon. He was completely feckless.

[ChrisH]

John | February 17, 2009, 11:44am | #

"... inflatio ..."

I'm guessing that's a typo, but it's a great neologism for this stimulating of the economy.

[John]

Yes Chris H it was a typo. But it does work as a neologism for today. Inflatio porkulus ad absurdum works well.

[Willie]

WE all know what Carter did. In a political satire column I would imagine time limits listing Carter's policies and presumes that those who read it know them.

Hart is much better than Krugman since he approaches subjects from a libertarian viewpoint. And, he is damn funny.

[domoarrigato]

I saw the same thing - Infelatio leads to a climax, followed by inevitable Defelatio and shame...

[Mike M.]

Jimmy Carter is so far in the past now that he's not a really great target for the GOP anymore. It makes them look, well, old when they attack him.

His presidency might be in the distant past, but he's still very much a public figure, sticking his nose in diplomatic affairs, talking to terrorist organizations like Hamas, and being a general annoying pain in the ass.

I think he's an extremely bitter man who has never gotten over the fact that America resoundingly rejected him. He should have faded into the background with dignity a long time ago.

[the innominate one]

How many marines died in Lebanon on Reagan's watch?

[John]

Jimmy Carter is only relevent because Leftist seem to have forgotten all of the lessons of the 60s and 70s. Arguments that were long since settled have been re-started. People, much like the 70s, once again beleive that the government can plan the economy and that putting people to work in do nothing jobs paid for by tax money is the same as creating wealth.

[Warren]

Carter is not as sucky as he's remembered. He sucked, but he also unsucked in important ways that no other president ever did.

But it hardly matters, because BHO is nothing like Carter (or Kennedy), he's LBJ, FDR.

[Lamar]

"How many marines died in Lebanon on Reagan's watch?"

My post was intended to be ironic.

[WaWa]

Jimmy was over his head in DC, as is Obama. They both followed disasters where the American people took a chance. Hart is right, in both cases we (voters) were wrong to elect them. You got them and Nancy Pelosi too. Mostly Pelosi. And great line about her TER.

[P Brooks]

Hart is much better than Krugman since he approaches subjects from a libertarian viewpoint. And, he is damn funny.

See?
What did I tell you?

[vice]

"Jimmy was over his head in DC"

You mean Dekalb County?

[Sasha]

"Jimmy was over his head in DC"

No, he was just a regular KKK/Democrat. Hates Jews and Catholics.

[the innominate one]

Lamar - too subtle

[FrBunny]

Hart is much better than Krugman since he approaches subjects from a libertarian viewpoint.

And chocolate is better than vanilla because chocolate tastes good to me.

[Lamar]

"And chocolate is better than vanilla because chocolate tastes good to me."

Liar. You didn't even provide a link.

[FrBunny]

Man I wish I didn't fear my IT overlords so I could link to 2girls1cup for that...

[Barbie]

P Brooks: If you write something like
Americans fall into two distinct categories today: those who remember how devastating the policies of Jimmy Carter were, and those who are about to find out.
you should probably have something about what Carter actually did in the body of the article.

If you're a Reason.com subscriber or read Hart's columns, you should probably have an elementary knowledge of history and politics. You must be in the "about to find out" category.

[Daze]

Carter was an underrated president and an overrated president.

The important question: What blackmail material does Hart have on Gillespie to insure that every lameass Hart column gets posted here?

[Suge Knight]

I live to suck dick!

[Daze]

(overrated EX-president, that should read above)

[hannah]

P Brook:
You be'em Dickhead

[Latrice]

Carter may have had it right on the Mid-East. We are way too far on Israel's side.

[P Brooks]

You must be in the "about to find out" category.

You must be wrong a lot.

[sage]

I can't read that whole sign next to Carter. Does it say "It's a law we can...poop on"?

[TofuSushi]

Daze,

Hart knows that Nick's leather jackets are made of the skin of those he has mated with.

[No Lunch For Me]

"2girls1cup"

WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT???

[Episiarch]

Ha, FrBunny--you didn't even need a link to ensnare someone. Well done.

[P Brooks]

"55 mph: it's not a good idea, it's just the law."

[FrBunny]

Don't worry, No Lunch. A quick dose of Propranolol will evidently wipe your memory.

[Hawthorne]

The better question is why Hart would allow his columns to be picked to death by folks like Daze and others who, before blogs, could only get published on bathroom walls.

There is a reason Hart is in so many papers now. He is damn good.

[No Lunch For Me]

"Don't worry, No Lunch. A quick dose of Propranolol will evidently wipe your memory."

Did you have to say "wipe"?

[Barbie]

BDB: Jimmy Carter is so far in the past now that he's not a really great target for the GOP anymore. It makes them look, well, old when they attack him.

"Those who refuse to study history are doomed to repeat it." I forget who said that -- probably someone too old to be relevant...

[NaNa]

True that Hawthorne!
We have a poplar libertarian columnist in Hart (Nick sees that and some PJ O'Rourke in him) and a few rip him to shreds on the blog.

No wonder we are 100% of the good ideas and only 2% of the vote in elections.

[LarryA]

It's kind of unfair to blame Carter for having the misfortune to follow LBJ and Nixon's disastrous economic policies.

Carter ran on the platform that he didn't know about politics. He was right.

Jimmy was over his head in DC, as is Obama.

Jimmy ran the White House as if it was in Plains, Georgia. Barack is running the White House as if it is in Chicago, Illinois.

[P Brooks]

You have no power, here, sockpuppets!

Be gone. Before somebody drops a house on you.

[FrBunny]

Hart is much better than Krugman...

He is damn good.

True that Hawthorne!

Who forgot to close the door behind them?

[cunnivore]

Perhaps when I'm lying on my deathbed I'll ask to finally see what 2girls1cup actually was so I'll know what the fuss was about.

Until then I'm content with my ignorance.

[NaNa]

"Jimmy was over his head in DC, as is Obama."
No better statement has been made. Chicago politics have come to DC in the form of Obama.

[Hazel Meade]

Seriously, can someone who is old tell me that we have been this DOOMED before and been fine...I'm in need of reassurance. Was Carter really sitting on as much DOOM as Obama? Is this the same DOOM or is DOOM a fleeting and temporal thing? Old sage-heads of H&R lend me your counsel lest I succumb to DOOM.

The only thing I can remember is the 1997 Asian financial crisis, and this is definitely worse.

Of course, political rhetoric seems to have been getting exponentialy more hysterical in the last decade too, so I have trouble telling as well.

[cunnivore]

There is a reason Hart is in so many papers now. He is damn good.

There are two types of Americans. Those who think success in the newspaper columnist biz is an indicator of goodness, and those who realize that David Brooks and Bill Kristol hold two of the most prestigious columnist positions in the world.

[cunnivore]

Barack is running the White House as if it is in Chicago, Illinois.

Chicago and Washington are very similar politically, so I'm not sure what you're getting at.

[P Brooks]

I think there is a compelling case to be made that the present situation is in large part a direct resut of hysterical political rhetoric.

That, and economic ignorance.

[Episiarch]

Perhaps when I'm lying on my deathbed I'll ask to finally see what 2girls1cup actually was so I'll know what the fuss was about.

Copraphilia, my good man.

[Turd Sandwhich]

"Copraphilia, my good man."

Fluffy and loose Copraphilia.

[SugarFree]

Episiarch wants the wombs of American women to be shat in by the weak. He sickens me.

[The Angry Optimist]

Perhaps when I'm lying on my deathbed I'll ask to finally see what 2girls1cup actually was so I'll know what the fuss was about.

Two low-rent attention whores doing disgusting things well...for attention.

/end cranky conservatism

[Jimmy Carter]

"Copraphilia, my good man."

Which I think brilliantly encapsulates my one term in the Whitehouse.

Thank you!

[Episiarch]

Episiarch wants the wombs of American women to be shat in by the weak. He sickens me.

Ahh, Spacedocking. Yes, it has a name.

[madmikefisk]

Carter is just often overlooked in a lot of ways... he did some good things in the area of deregulation, but was exceptionally lacking in terms of either international diplomacy or in managing bureaucracy.

He just seemed like a President that was in over his head... the good things seemed to happen almost in spite of him, and the bad things weren't worse insomuch as he wasn't really capable of directly doing much damage. Although economic misery and shaky international positioning may have marred his entire term as President, we at least can take solace in the fact that, his bureaucratic interpretation of Title IX aside, most of his mistakes were easily enough blotted out.

If only we could say the same about other recent Presidents...

[cunnivore]

Episiarch...

I'M NOT DEAD YET!

[Kolohe]

so I'll know what the fuss was about.

There's a reason why the abrahamic religions equate knowledge with downfall. Be blissful in your ignorance. Thanks to the google serpent, when I first heard about it, I just had to take a bite of the apple.

[SugarFree]

cunnivore,

What if now that you know, it means you will die? Be careful out there, d00d.

[FrBunny]

Copraphilia

I loved It's a Wonderful Life!

[puts hands securely back over eyes and resumes humming]

[Episiarch]

You weak-stomached pussies should start out with some goatse and furry porn and work your way up to the harder stuff. For the lulz.

[SugarFree]

"Teacher says 'Everytime a bell rings, a girl drinks poop out of a cup.'"

"Goddamn public schools."

[John Cleese]

I'M NOT DEAD YET!

You're not fooling anyone, you know.

[cunnivore]

Weak stomached? Try eating out fat girls after they spend an hour on the ellipticals and we'll see how you stack up.

[Episiarch]

Try eating out fat girls after they spend an hour on the ellipticals and we'll see how you stack up.

Throw in a yeast infection and their period and I'll be impressed.

[kinnath]

Seriously, can someone who is old tell me that we have been this DOOMED before and been fine...I'm in need of reassurance. Was Carter really sitting on as much DOOM as Obama? Is this the same DOOM or is DOOM a fleeting and temporal thing? Old sage-heads of H&R lend me your counsel lest I succumb to DOOM.

Let's see, I was 19 when Carter was elected. Is that old enough?

I've spent most of the last year saying it's not as bad as the 70's. I now think it is as bad as the 70's, and I don't think the recovery is really going to start until someone replaces Obama in 2016.

Scary enough for you?

[kinnath]

Can you say STAGFLATION?

[cunnivore]

I wouldn't touch that with Mick Jagger's tongue. You win.

[SugarFree]

Can you say STAGFLATION?

Yes, but I don't have VOIP on this machine and you wouldn't be able to hear me very well.

[Franklin Harris]

"There is a reason Hart is in so many papers now. He is damn good."

Someone has no idea how newspapers decide which columnists to carry.

[cunnivore]

I don't think the recovery is really going to start until someone replaces Obama in 2016.

Until?

More like if. Dollars to donuts Obama pulls a Chavez when this recession worsens.

[kinnath]

Dollars to donuts Obama pulls a Chavez when this recession worsens.

There's rational fear and there's irrational fear . . .

[Barack Obama]

That is not the 2girls1cup I knew.

[George Bailey]

"Teacher says 'Everytime a bell rings, a girl drinks poop out of a cup.'"

That's right, that's right. Attaboy, Clarence!

[cunnivore]

kinnath, if this were a rational world I would agree with you. But if there's anything the last few years have taught us it's that no fear of governmental misbehavior is irrational.

[NaNa]

A lot of sour grapes authors blog.

[Mo]

Deregulation and Volcker were good things that Carter did. He got screwed by circumstance. For a guy talking about how today's policies will be as devastating as Carter's policies, he should probably mention a policy or two that were devastating. The speed limit was annoying, not devastating. Invading Iran wouldn't have done anything to the energy crisis. What did Carter do that devastated the economy? Price controls? Cuz those were Nixon.

I don't care how good Hart is, this is a bad one to link to. It's essentially contentless. Also, what's with blaming the current mess on the party that only controlled Congress for 2 years of the last 8? Shouldn't the blame go to the party in power?

[guy in the back row]

Seriously, can someone who is old tell me that we have been this DOOMED before and been fine...I'm in need of reassurance. Was Carter really sitting on as much DOOM as Obama? Is this the same DOOM or is DOOM a fleeting and temporal thing? Old sage-heads of H&R lend me your counsel lest I succumb to DOOM.

I was old enough not just to remember the Carter administration, but also to rememebr how easy it was to get interstate commerce and hallucinogens without being hassled by the cops. Made the bad times not so bad, at least in a large city!

[Tbone]

Seriously, can someone who is old tell me that we have been this DOOMED before and been fine...I'm in need of reassurance.

As far as the ratio of government spending and national debt to GDP, only the depression and WWII era were more out of balance but back then there was not an aging demographic with SS and Medicare escalations looming. So yeah, there is some level of doom.

All things being equal however you could have been born in Sudan so it's all relative. We have a post-industrial revolution lifestyle undreamed of by prior generations. I think it likely we will look a lot more European soon.

Failure of the political class to confront and reform their profligate borrow and spend debauchery however, will lead to DOOM being less a feeling and a lot more like the video game of the same name on our streets and in our cities.

[Edwin]

I really liked this column. You guys have to give a satire writer some room. Hart is not doing a Doctorial thesis to entertain the masses.

[GinaDeMille]

It takes a certain intellect to write with such humor and understanding of issues. Ron has that in spades.

And, he looks as good to me as Nick does in his leather coat.

[green mamba]

Hey, in the wiki picture of Billy Carter, he looks like Matt Welch!