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- iHaveNet.com: Politics
by Kenneth T. Walsh
Issues like unemployment, energy, and healthcare are the same, but the governing style is different
Although briefly sidelined by what doctors said was a stomach viral infection, former President Jimmy Carter has been making the rounds of TV studios and book-signing events to promote White House Diary, his new look back at his four turbulent years as president from 1977 to 1981.
Many Americans and historians have dismissed Carter as a failure, partly because he presided over such a terrible economy. He also alienated many in
Carter doesn't provide any big, new disclosures in the book, but he does finally admit to making a variety of mistakes,
such as overburdening
In a passage that has particular relevance today, he highlights what hasn't changed in 30 years. "I've been surprised by how many of the major challenges I faced still confront President Obama, which suggests the continuity of history -- or the inability of any one administration to resolve difficult issues," he writes. "Some of the more important ongoing problems are energy and the environment, comprehensive health care, civil liberties and human rights, nuclear proliferation, the economy, abortion, and narcotics. Looking abroad, we continue to face complex challenges in Russia, China, Afghanistan, Iran, Sudan, Zimbabwe, Cuba, and the Middle East."
One of the key lessons from the Carter era that has lasting importance is that a president can't really govern as an outsider.
As
As Zelizer says, Carter was popular during his first year in office, but he was soon mired by the economy and by crises in Afghanistan and Iran, problems that parallel what Obama is facing today.
As an outsider, Carter wouldn't compromise enough to get things done. He abhorred making deals with members of
By contrast, Obama has been
willing to wheel and deal with
But Obama's crunch will come if his
Regardless of who is right, Obama will have a difficult task bridging the partisan divide. He would have to show much more flexibility, facing the same problem of accommodation that bedeviled Carter.
On another score, Obama is starting to sound like Carter as he complains about how he isn't getting the credit he deserves for trying to change Washington and for winning passage of important legislation. He says liberals who supported him in the past are showing bad judgment by threatening to sit out the midterm elections. He told Rolling Stone recently, "When I talk to Democrats around the country, I tell them, 'Guys, wake up here. We have accomplished an incredible amount in the most adverse circumstances imaginable.' " Vice President Joe Biden was even more blunt when he inartfully advised liberals last week to "stop whining and get out there and look at the alternatives."
A final point of comparison is that Carter seemed too cerebral and distant from Americans' everyday problems. That's a criticism of Obama today. Even his own party's strategists say he needs to do better at connecting with Middle America -- as he has tried to do with backyard chats -- if he is to avoid Carter's fate of being a one-term president.
Available at Amazon.com:
Jimmy Carter: The American Presidents Series: The 39th President, 1977-81
The Disappearing Center: Engaged Citizens, Polarization, and American Democracy
The Virtues of Mendacity: On Lying in Politics
Bush on the Home Front: Domestic Policy Triumphs and Setbacks
The Political Fix: Changing the Game of American Democracy, from the Grassroots to the White House
AMERICAN POLITICS
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What Barack Obama Can Learn From Jimmy Carter | Politics
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