# Why is Jimmy Carter considered such a great president now? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 27, 2017, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jimmy-carter-considered-such-a-great-president-now/794822 "2017-08-27T06:23:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![treis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bc79bd/32.png) [@treis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/treis)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2017, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jimmy-carter-considered-such-a-great-president-now/794822/81 "2017-08-29T21:05:17Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > The rescue attempt could have been done better - it was a fiasco. A botched rescue attempt isn’t exactly a foreign policy failing or a mistake on the President’s part. > [@Shodan](#): > > If you mean Stinger missiles, that was Reagan. Carter was President when the Soviets invaded Afghanistan, not when they were driven out of Afghanistan. Carter started the program to arm them. ---
**Author:** ![treis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bc79bd/32.png) [@treis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/treis)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2017, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jimmy-carter-considered-such-a-great-president-now/794822/82 "2017-08-29T21:09:26Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > His dealings with the Soviets were also weak, and communism arguably spread more during his term than any other single Presidential term. He basically threw in the towel on the Truman Doctrine. And this was at a time when the Communist bloc was growing weaker, although we didn’t know that at the time. By the time Reagan took office, it didn’t take much to turn the tables on them. But Carter could have started that process earlier if he hadn’t reconciled himself to 2-3 billion people living in slavery in perpetuity. How do you explain the Carter doctrine? ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2017, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jimmy-carter-considered-such-a-great-president-now/794822/83 "2017-08-29T21:24:53Z")
Carter isn’t a people person. He had trouble connecting with other members of his party. Even people working in his administration felt it. Carter is a good guy and has a strong moral code. He just didn’t have the right personality for a politician. I was a supporter when he ran for President. I became disillusioned as the economy tanked and the Iran hostages dominated his last year in office. His legacy with the Carter Center is far more important. That’s what he should be remembered for. [https://millercenter.org/president/carter/domestic-affairs](https://millercenter.org/president/carter/domestic-affairs) > [@](#): > > As when he was governor, Carter had an abiding dislike for the backroom dealing that is so pervasive in Washington. Congress which found the new president hard to deal with, quickly sensed his shallow public support. With this knowledge, Congress asserted its power over the president by shooting down the consumer-protection bill and the labor reform package. Carter responded by vetoing a public works package in 1978 on the grounds that it was inflationary. A pattern of mutual distrust and contempt had been set. When Congress transformed his tax plan into new favors for special interests, Carter called the taxing committees "a pack of ravenous wolves."Carter did have some successes with Congress, but often because he backed existing Democratic programs, such as raising the minimum wage. ---
**Author:** ![Asuka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2017, 9:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jimmy-carter-considered-such-a-great-president-now/794822/84 "2017-08-30T09:08:37Z")
> [@Mr.Miskatonic](#): > > Like many other people Carter was sick of the constant meddling and coups we supported in the name of ‘stopping communism’. Our attitude either drove somewhat socialist countries intot he arms of the Soviets or we just ran a corporate sponsored coup to install some friendly right wing dictator and who cares how many they killed. > > There are countries that to this day remember the US primarily for the meddling we did in their country and rightly hold it against us. Carter wanted that bullying image to end, but Reagan just restored it and gave us such wonders as the El Salvadoran Death Squads and the Contras. If Carter was so tired of it, why did he prop-up the Saudi’s when they were in danger of a revolt, or gave support to Pol Pot well after everyone knew of his genocidal activities, or give military weapons and assistance to Suharto when Indonesia invaded East Timor and began killing civilians? ---
**Author:** ![Reddy\_Mercury](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/43a26b/32.png) [@Reddy\_Mercury](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reddy_Mercury)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2017, 10:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jimmy-carter-considered-such-a-great-president-now/794822/85 "2017-08-30T10:31:46Z")
Carter was a self-righteous, stubborn, out of his depth micromanager who began the process of deregulation, and who truly brought the Religious Right into play as a political force. Now, with the wisdom of age, he is a nice man who has done much for humanity - but he was probably the worst President, in a purely administrative sense - since Herbert Hoover. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2017, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jimmy-carter-considered-such-a-great-president-now/794822/86 "2017-08-30T12:00:44Z")
> [@Asuka](#): > > If Carter was so tired of it, why did he prop-up the Saudi’s when they were in danger of a revolt, or gave support to Pol Pot well after everyone knew of his genocidal activities, or give military weapons and assistance to Suharto when Indonesia invaded East Timor and began killing civilians? Right, even under the Carter foreign policies there were inconsistencies in how the proclaimed new “human-rights-centered” approach applied. The '76 general election was close, there are those who say that if Reagan had fully fallen in line behind Ford the result would have been different. Before that, Carter’s ascent to be the Dem nominee was greatly a result of a combination of post-Watergate desire for a clean, high-morals “outsider” and post-McGovern desire for someone who could appeal to the more conservative electorate. One would hope that the illusion that people will give up on the notion of “bringing in an outsider” as the magic bullet that will “clean up Washington” some day, but it doesn’t look that way. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2017, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jimmy-carter-considered-such-a-great-president-now/794822/87 "2017-08-30T13:15:58Z")
Bringing in an outsider can work, but the outsider has to actually know what’s wrong with Washington and have a plan for fixing it that takes into account the legal and constitutional aspects of bringing about such change. The problem is that 99% of outsiders only understand the slogans against DC rather than the actual problems and those motivated enough to go on such a moral crusade aren’t too concerned with legal niceties or the limits of Presidential power. This problem occurs at the state level too, just witness the administration of Jesse Ventura. Such wasted potential there. But the basic idea is sound. An outsider would be best able to reform DC if they had the necessary knowledge and skills. And it would really help if insider candidates didn’t lie about being reformers, thus making the public even more angry and start them entertaining even more outsidery candidates. As for who could be that person? Maybe Mark Zuckerburg is up to it? ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2017, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jimmy-carter-considered-such-a-great-president-now/794822/88 "2017-08-30T15:04:17Z")
> [@Asuka](#): > > If Carter was so tired of it, why did he prop-up the Saudi’s when they were in danger of a revolt, or gave support to Pol Pot well after everyone knew of his genocidal activities, or give military weapons and assistance to Suharto when Indonesia invaded East Timor and began killing civilians? Yep. Carter’s “peace and human rights” foreign policy platform was good rhetoric, but was never quite matched by his foreign policy actions. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2017, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jimmy-carter-considered-such-a-great-president-now/794822/89 "2017-08-30T17:26:34Z")
> [@treis](#): > > A botched rescue attempt isn’t exactly a foreign policy failing or a mistake on the President’s part. We will have to agree to disagree, because I can’t think of anything else to call it. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2017, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jimmy-carter-considered-such-a-great-president-now/794822/90 "2017-08-30T17:31:45Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > Bringing in an outsider can work, but the outsider has to actually know what’s wrong with Washington and have a plan for fixing it that takes into account the legal and constitutional aspects of bringing about such change. > > The problem is that 99% of outsiders only understand the slogans against DC rather than the actual problems and those motivated enough to go on such a moral crusade aren’t too concerned with legal niceties or the limits of Presidential power. This problem occurs at the state level too, just witness the administration of Jesse Ventura. Such wasted potential there. > > But the basic idea is sound. An outsider would be best able to reform DC if they had the necessary knowledge and skills. And it would really help if insider candidates didn’t lie about being reformers, thus making the public even more angry and start them entertaining even more outsidery candidates. > > As for who could be that person? Maybe Mark Zuckerburg is up to it? I’d argue that long before you understand what’s wrong with Washington and have understood pragmatic, constitutional ways to fix it, you are in insider. That isn’t knowledge you get without being inside the system - for a long time. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2017, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jimmy-carter-considered-such-a-great-president-now/794822/91 "2017-08-30T18:27:21Z")
And I do believe there are some insiders who can fix it. I felt that way about John McCain once. An insider with a long record of being a reformer is better than an outsider. But such beasts are rare and it turns out that McCain probably didn’t have the temperament to be President and that his knowledge of what was actually wrong with DC was only skin deep despite his years of experience. Perhaps the last guy we had who qualified as a successful outsider reformer was Theodore Roosevelt. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jimmy-carter-considered-such-a-great-president-now/794822.md?page=4)