Is it 1976 all over again? Is Obama the new Jimmy Carter?
I get this idea from, of all people, Democratic strategist Bob Beckel. Beckel was on TV the other day saying that Obama was looking a bit like Jimmy Carter in 1976. Beckel intended this as a compliment. After all, Carter came out of nowhere to steal the Democratic nomination and then went on to win the election. Obama too has vanquished a woman who was thought to be invincible for the Democratic nomination.
I think Beckel has a point with his Carter analogy, although Beckel does not seem to have thought it through deeply enough. Actually it goes even further than he imagines. Obama, like Carter, has had no preparation for the high office he seeks. Carter's background was in peanut farming; Obama's is in community activism. Yes, Carter was governor of Georgia and Obama has served briefly in the Senate. But no one can seriously argue that either brings to Washington anything like the experience necessary to run the United States of America.
Second, Obama, like Carter, tries to be all things to all people. Carter campaigned largely on vacuities like "change" and "cleaning out Washington." Sound familiar? Of course Americans after Watergate wanted Washington cleaned up and they wanted change. And of course Carter gave it to them, although it wasn't exactly the change they sought: stagflation, economic recession, runaway interest rates, U.S. hostages in Iran, a Soviet bear on the prowl, and what Carter himself called a national "malaise."
Obama is hoping that once again Americans will fall for his content-free campaign. And so far he seems to have the white liberal intelligentsia completely fooled. A classic example is my former debate opponent Alan Wolfe, who has endorsed Obama on the sole grounds that it's about time America let a black man into the Oval Office. Wolfe is not the brightest light in the academic firmament--I think of him as white America's answer to Cornel West--but he is one of the biggest opportunists this side of the Nile. Consequently his support of Obama shows which way this academic weatherman thinks the wind is blowing.
I don't know if Obama, like Carter, will make it to the White House in November. But the best thing about Carter was that, by being a complete disaster, he helped Reagan get elected in 1980. Even so, America paid a high price for Carter's foolishness--several countries fell into the Soviet orbit, and Iran fell into the clutches of the radical mullahs. Who knows how costly an Obama presidency could be? I for one hope it's not 1976 all over again.
Reader Comments ( Page 24 of 25)
346. F M Richbourg III is suffering from paranoid dillusions in which anyone who taxes him for the streets and security that gets him to work everyday is either a "liberal" or a "communist". Too much Rush Limbaugh or Michael Savage I suspect, because all that's in his post are ad hominems and labels.
newyorker20014 at 9:20AM on Jun 22nd 2008
347. Bryan M.J., you're overstating the obvious - of course homosexuals have more sexually transmitted diseases than heterosexuals - THEY'RE NOT ALLOWED TO MARRY IN MOST STATES - not that this would end diseases - gosh knows plenty of married heterosexuals get them all the time...in fact, AIDS is largely a HETEROSEXUAL disease world-wide, with millions of men, women and children dying from it in Africa and other third-word countries where the Catholic priests threaten them with hell if they dare to use condoms to PROTECT THEMSELVES.
newyorker20014 at 9:25AM on Jun 22nd 2008
348. F M Richbourg III
Wow, aren’t we quite the aristocrat with the III after our name.
There happens to be a handful of former liberals among the hundreds of neocons involved in establishing or influencing policy and yet we are now to blame for their failed policies.
This is a sign of how truly desperate you guys have become to wash the stench of the last seven and a half years off.
Monkey Boy’s presidency was nothing less than an attempt to fully implement the neocon plan for this country as spelled out in the PNAC (Project for a New American Century) mission statement.
Look up PNAC and you will find that the directors and signatories to the mission statement are life long conservatives such as that snooty and snotty quiff. William Krtistol.
Others include Richard (aptly named DICK) B Cheney, Paul Wolfowitz, William J Bennet,
Steve Forbes, Fred C Icke, I Lewis (traitor) Libby, J Dansforth Quayle (that should have been a clue right there) Donald Rumsfeld.
John Ellis Bush (otherwise known as Jeb Bush, yet another attempt by a high born Bush, one of your fellow aristocrats, to appear as simple and humble, most people think his real name is Jebediah).
And many many more.
PNAC was established in 1997 While Clinton was in office, they offered to help him with his image in trying to get him to sign on to PNAC’s mission. He refused but its strange how some of the PNACers ended up as advisors to Monkey boy and actually part of his cabinet as well as Cheney becoming the vice president.
PS. These fuckers knew that getting the average American Citizen to go along with this nonsense would be nearly impossible as is evident in this little nugget buried in the mission statement:
“The process of transformation is likely to be a long one, absent some catastrophic and catalyzing event—like a new Pearl Harbor.”
I personally am not suggesting that they planned or allowed 9/11 to happen but when one considers that part of the plan was regime change in Iraq and Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11 they certainly took advantage of 9/11 in an attempt to fully implement PNAC.
rabidmccain at 10:41AM on Jun 22nd 2008
349. Well stated, rabidmccain, but I don't suspect that Richbourg's partisan bias will allow him to grasp everything you rightly posted.
newyorker20014 at 10:58AM on Jun 22nd 2008
350. "Even so, America paid a high price for Carter's foolishness--several countries fell into the Soviet orbit, and Iran fell into the clutches of the radical mullahs. Who knows how costly an Obama presidency could be? I for one hope it's not 1976 all over again."
Okay no.
Iran was set up for disaster as soon as the AMERICANS reinstalled the shah under your GOP buddy Eisenhower and his Secretary of State, John Foster Dulles, a real Karl Rove-esque jerk.
Why did Iran fall into the hand of those "radicals"? Because the shah Reza Pahlavi used secret imprisonment and imprisonment. Because he threw a dramatic anniversary of the monarchy for himself in the midst of the poor villages. Because he had no concern for anyone but himself and his elitist cronies. Seems just like any of the dozens of others of dictators the US has installed in Latin America and elsewhere!
Sure, Iran has anti-American sentiment. Bush's regime tries to spin it to make us believe they "hate our freedom". The Iranians hate the kind of imperialism the US forces on the rest of the world - and for that, I stand with them.
Try checking your facts before you make those sweeping generalizations.
Source: Amnesty International and basic knowledge of Middle Eastern history.
Elizabeth at 11:37AM on Jun 22nd 2008
351. Jimmy Carter was one of the worst presidents this country ever had.What has Obama done since he has been elected to the Senate? Nothing that I can see.I am for change too but I am also for apple pie and motherhood.
Steve at 12:29PM on Jun 22nd 2008
352. Really Steve... I won't question your ability to bake but I have to wonder how you're going to manage to be a mother.
Somber at 6:06PM on Jun 22nd 2008
353. Dear Elizabeth-
Bless you in your attempt to educate these 'erudite morons' about Geo-politics. Perhaps when others like you wake up and see the way things are going, they will finally take a stand- but that would require REAL intelligence, not this soi-disant intellectual bullshit that passes for it on this blog.
Robert at 7:49PM on Jun 22nd 2008
354. P.S. Liz (may I call you Liz?) Prepare for a rebuttal from the Elitist-in-Chief HMS Richblood the Redundant.
Aloha!
Robert at 7:50PM on Jun 22nd 2008
355. I don't know, but two mares don't make a stallion, and two bulls don't make a cow. Come on down to the farm you won't see two roosters walking arm in arm.
Man_in_Wilderness at 8:53PM on Jun 22nd 2008
356. . I don't know, but two mares don't make a stallion, and two bulls don't make a cow. Come on down to the farm you won't see two roosters walking arm in arm.
Man_in_Wilderness at 8:53PM on Jun
------------------
MIW,
Some animals are, indeed, homosexual, but I suspect you already know this.
Down on the farm one sees lots of strange things. I've seen plenty of homosexual activity from animals.
BUT you are right about two roosters not walking arnm in arm - roosters don't have arms!
mac at 9:56PM on Jun 22nd 2008
357. And of course, MIW tries to change one dead horse for another.
Robert at 11:09PM on Jun 22nd 2008
358. you folks must live in Cuba. u obviously have forgotten how this administration was concieved, 911, misinforming the coutry about WMD, Enron, the current gas problem. Man do i need to go on. What r u afraid of. tell the truth. u'd rather c another 4 yrs of this, rather than conquer your fears of a black man becoming president.if not now when. Something is about 2 break. tired of th BS
big time at 7:42PM on Jun 23rd 2008
359. Most of you people need to stop doing crack before you make these posts. Comparing Obama and Carter is dumb, as is everything written by this jackass. Smart people know that we need a third party candidate. Even Bozo the Clown would be better than these two. I won't vote for either of them. McCain is living in the fifties - less than a month ago he was on The Today Show talking about our "good" economy. They both suck but a Democrat is better than a Republican any day. Electing Mc Cain would be like having a member of an 8 year gang rape ask you on a date. The Bush administration is the worst in history on ALL fronts. They should make Republicans pay double at the gas pump and get abortions with coat hangers.
Nick Mayor at 12:19AM on Jun 23rd 2008
360. One more item of potential interest. Jimmy Carter was of course a graduate of the US Naval Academy (upper 10%) and served in submarines including service during the Korean War. He qualifies for and attended nuclear power school (an incredibly selective program) at the beginning of the age of nuclear subs. So those who think he was a poor foreign policy President (as Mr D'Souza and company clearly do) should logically admit that military service clearly does not translate to expertise in national security issues.
The other Steve
Steve at 12:50AM on Jun 23rd 2008