Why is there so much dislike for former president jimmy carter?

Lucas_Steinwalker · 3 months

I love carter. He deregulated the beer industry and paved the way for craft breweries.

quoadish · 3 months

Over all, Carter was/is seen, rightly or wrongly, as an ineffectual do-gooder. The hostage crisis was not only a very public failure, but was resolved just as Regan came into office. Some attribute the release to Carter's final negotiations, others attribute it to Regan ordering a carrier group to park in the Persian Gulf. Regardless of which actually entailed their release, Regan was given most of the credit.

Carter also presided over a tough economic period in US history. Unemployment was at 7-8% at times, and fuel was being rationed because of OPEC shenanigans. One of Carter's reponses to the fuel shortage was to lower interstate freeway speed limits to 55mph. While this was good math for saving fuel, it certainly didn't make the average US citizen feel much better.

Finally, Regan's success as president, regardless if it was his own success or simply fortunate circumstances, sharply contrasted Carter's tenure, solidifying the negative opinion many have of him.

zak_on_reddit · 3 months

Republicans hate Carter because he had us on a plan to end our dependence on foreign oil. As soon as Reagan took office he methodically dismantled that plan. Both Bush's put the final nails in the coffin of of that plan.

Republicans are owned by the oil & industrial/military machine. They love wars to control the world's oil.

tweakingforjesus · 3 months

Jimmy Carter is one of the few truly honest politicians. Consider the lying and mudslinging in today's republican primary. This is what is necessary to win the presidency in a normal election. The politicians that try to run an honest campaign on the merits, like John Huntsman, get drowned out by the partisans.

1976 was not a normal election. It was the first post-Watergate presidential election. Take the disgust that many had for Bush in the 2008 election and multiply it 100x. Jimmy Carter was the polar opposite of Richard Nixon who had recently resigned in disgrace. The country was disgusted by the republicans. Honestly the democrats could have nominated just about anybody and won.

While in office he was viewed as a naive simpleton from Georgia. It didn't help that his primary focus was on human rights instead of beating the war drums while the cold war was still in full swing.

Jimmy Carter was an honest man who rose to an office that requires a level of political acumen and deceit that he did not possess. He tried to do what was right instead of what would be politically expedient and was crucified for it.

ali_44 · 3 months

He is the only living President whom I truly respect. He lives his values and has never stopped trying to make the world a better place. He's not in it for the money. IOW, he is a truly good man and in the U.S. we no longer allow good men to be successful politicians, if we ever did.

garyp714 · 3 months

Because he is a Democrat and was one of the first Dems to meet and be subject to the right wing smear machine. Just like they weirdly canonize and love Reagan, they revile and shit op Carter.

Carter was also not very good at 'politics' and unlike Clinton (2nd Term) and Obama, he would not act and would only react to things which meant he was stuck with the right wings 'narrative'.

But he was a great man and still is.

jeffinfremont · 3 months

There was quite a lot of labeling of the man leading up to and including the reagan and bush years. It stuck. Obviously there were som international incidents that didn't help (Iran, the invasion of Afghanistan by the soviets etc etc) and the economic crisis o the period (also tied to the middle east coincidentally).

The label worst president in history? Give me a break. That's just a lame attempt at vilification (although it dd stick in the minds of many I guess).

badsider · 3 months

Ah, how I relish the days of odd-even gas rationing and stagflation. To be fair, he was just plain unlucky when the hostage rescue thing blew up in the Iranian desert. It was a gutsy call that didn't work and he paid the political price. He kind of defined the term `failed president', and I voted for him.

[deleted] · 3 months

Carter was a victim of a couple of things during his time as President that he wasn't responsible for:

Inflation due to Nixon taking us off the international gold standard
Iranian revolution against a dictator we put in place, the hostages taken at the American Embassy, where the head of the CIA at the time, Bush Sr., negotiated a release for the hostages in exchange for arms, and because he was in the can for Reagan, not to release them until after the election.

Why Carter was hated by conservatives:

He actually tried to move us off oil by going to solar power and related...
He told people they were going to need to put on their sweaters and turn down their heaters and Americans didn't like hearing that (i.e. Americans are self entitled twits who don't think they need to sacrifice during hard times)

Carter was the President who told Americans the truth and tried to level with the American people about how America was no longer going to be the America of the past due to a changing world. Reagan was the President who promised unicorns and rainbows while destroying the American dream. Americans liked the unicorns and rainbows story...

edubation · 3 months

Look at the period of time leading up to 1980.

Oil crisises, Vietnam, Kennedy dying, LBJ quitting, Nixon being impeached, Ford striking a "corrupt deal" (in the eyes of a few). Riots in the streets, leaders like MLK and Bobby K getting shot. A shitty (relatively speaking) economy. It was a perfect storm of shit.

Carter was too nice of a guy, too much of an outsider to unite the tribes.

seltaeb4 · 3 months

There isn't, really. Actually, in America he's quite admired.

The raving lunatics of the American Right have besmirched him for over 30 years, however. He worked on horrible, horrible things like Middle East peace accords, arms limitations treaties, ending America's addiction to foreign oil, spurring an economy based on domestic, renewable energy production, and adopting the metric system.

For this, the Reaganites swore eternal hostility.

iExtrapolate · 3 months

Lookup price controls, oil shortages and stagflation.

desbaratto · 3 months

Not sure myself. I've been fortunate to grow up in Georgia and even more so to have worked at the Carter Presidential Library (and "meet" him on a few occasions).

I'm in my early 30s so I can't speak to how his presidency was viewed, but I admire his work post-presidency and I think that he embodied what the office should be.

odinsbane · 3 months

I like him, and my mother likes him, she isn't into politics at all, but I suspect she remembers when he came into office. I think a big part of the dislike is because he is honest about the Israel Palestine conflict.

hblask · 3 months

Part of his reputation is to have the misfortune to have presided over much of the oil crisis and the "stagflation" years. He didn't response well to these, but they weren't his fault.

I don't think he is really disliked that much; he is just used as an example of an incumbent that lost after one term, something that doesn't happen very often.

[deleted] · 3 months

It was simply an unfortunate period to be president, it may very well have turned out the same for anyone elected at that time. Volcker had to make some drastic decisions at the Fed due to the oil embargo and rising fuel and food prices. The whole Iran debacle which wasn't entirely his fault yet he accepted blame for it. And Watergate really changed the American publics' perceptive of the President. There is a really good Adam Curtis short film regarding Watergate, American journalism, and the Presidency. I think we can all agree that he is one of the greatest ex-presidents in history, though.

BangItUpLainey · 3 months

I am an American and I never understood this, although I am only 30. It seems like older people really hate him, but for no exact reason other than "he was a lame duck president", meaning they don't think he got anything done during his term.

Right now a lot of old Americans are comparing Obama to Carter and saying the same thing about Obama, but in my mind I really don't understand how a black President who inherited a broken, warmongering economy from Bush and then corrected it to the point where the war is over and the economy is functioning again is like Jimmy Carter at all.

lotsofideas · 3 months

In 30 years there will be a post on Reddit asking the same question about Barack Obama. Let's discuss that one now so that we can just refer them back to here.

nofreedom4theUS · 3 months

This is a good site for presidents rankings from a Libertarian's perspective

Jimmy Carter (1977-1981) Good: Deregulated oil prices and telecommunications (+6),[111] ended occupation of Panama Canal (+8),[112] wanted to withdraw from South Korea (+4),[113] sought disarming of nuclear weapons (+8),[114] Voyager Golden Record (+1). Bad: Caused gasoline shortage (-7), funded Mujahideen (-10), signed FISA (-9) and CRA (-9),[115] backed Indonesia's genocide in East Timor (-10),[116] accelerated inflation but appointed Volcker to stop it (-4),[117] wanted to control prices (-8),[118] bailed out Chrysler (-8),[119] allowed Iran hostage crisis (-4).[120] Score: -42

ThumperNM · 3 months

The same right wing, big money people who have worked so hard to name every park bench in America after Reagan have also worked equally as hard to demonize Carter, Kennedy and Clinton.

Carter while President tried to rescue the American hostages in Iran and all the while Reagan and Bush were negotiating with Ayatollah Komehni to trade oil for arms and hostages.

conn2005 · 3 months

As to my favorite less evil presidents, I’ve always rather liked Cleveland, too, though he’s far from unimpeachable. I prefer Harding to Coolidge. In fact, Harding is probably the only Republican president I’d include in my Less Evil Top Ten. The others would all be Democrats. One of them, by the way, would be Jimmy Carter, whom I’ve gradually come to realize was one of the least harmful presidents of the 20th Century. - Jeff Riggenbach

This statement changed my belief about Carter entirely.

dhusk · 3 months

Its mostly right wing propaganda. He was the 'bad guy' Reagan had to 'slay' in order to ascend to his throne of neocon sainthood. But realistically, he ended up doing far less damage to the US than Reagan did.

PDK01 · 3 months

I have it on good authority that he is history's greatest monster.

alanX · 3 months

Charter (for re-election) was the only main stream President I can remember really supporting and was happy to vote for.

brucemo · 3 months

He was widely seen as ineffective, and American confidence was in the dumper during that period.

The economy was crap and the hostage crisis was an incredible black eye. The failed rescue attempt compounded this.

It was four years of downer.

rcglinsk · 3 months

When Iran stormed our embassy and took hostages, Carter didn't do a damn thing.

goodbible · 3 months

Because here

SicTim · 3 months

Because after him and Ford, America had had it up to its ass with well-meaning goofballs.

BBQCopter · 3 months

I believe it had something to do with a crazed rabbit...

[deleted] · 3 months

[deleted]

egalitarianusa · 3 months

My dislike for Carter came much after his presidency: he compared the Israel/palestinian problem to apartheid. He is also a follower of Christ, "server" of the poor, that embarrasses many.

killien · 3 months

as clinton pointed out: it's the economy, stupid.

Like most left wingers, carter had good intentions but didn't actually make people wealthier (because they don't understand how wealth is formed).

Racecap · 3 months

Cause he is politician? If you really analyse politicians you come to conclusion that they are flipping idiots. It amazes me that people actually vote but then again they are in majority of cases flipping idiots as well.

TL;DR: most of human race are flipping idiots.

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