Source: New York Times
Jimmy Carter has died aged 100 and the columns are filled with reminiscences of his time as President – most at best nuanced. He is rightly lauded for his works after leaving office doing good and working tirelessly around the world. In many ways he was a far more successful post President than President. He was thought by many – at least until Biden – as the most unsuccessful President of all time.
So why the clear love for Jimmy? Certainly he was an intelligent, decent hardworking President. An engineer by profession who worked on nuclear power. But maybe because of this background he concentrated too much on process rather than passion. He failed to set adequate boundaries, and lacked a philosophy of government, too much the good hearted liberal as Lemann once said. He made mistakes.
One incident seemed to sum up all the failures of Jimmy Carter’s Presidency even more than the Hostages incident. A sudden focus on his ineptitude. Something the ordinary voter could relate to. Emblematic of all his problems in Government and abroad occurred on 30th August 1979. Cue the cello music. Seeking a better press it was thought that the President should be seen at leisure, doing what many males in America do on a day off, having a day fishing. When suddenly and on camera he was attacked by a clearly enraged swamp rabbit who needed to be beaten off with an oar. An incident that was as you can see from the photo below somewhat over-egged by the world press eager to find a leitmotif for the failing president (as in “swinging for his life”).
Typical of the press attention is the below from a Georgia paper but its much like all the coverage. Many saw this incident as the beginning of the end of his career as president.
Perhaps the distance of forty five years might make us appreciate the ‘ol peanut farmer better and consider how lucky we were then and how much he was in fact ahead of his time.
Copyright The Oligarch Kings 2024
