I’ll never get over how Jimmy Carter has become this legendary figure online among the exact set of people who think Joe Biden is the worst president of all time
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To be fair, Jimmy Carter was a man of principle who dedicated his life to public service even after his presidency and when there no potential for personal benefit. He never used his office or power for personal gain, and to his detriment over-erred on the side of integrity
I should know better than to try to answer this, but I think a big part of it is that they hold similar political positions except that Biden has them in 2024 and Jimmy Carter had them in 1978.
He was terrible at the politics of the job, for one thing; also, he was a big fan of deregulation, and his economic policies were not effective, to say the least.
For sure. The Carter Doctrine caused so much death and destruction that's ongoing to this day, for example. And I'm not saying he's *directly* responsible for the state of Afghanistan, or the Shah of Iran fleeing, but his action/inaction certainly contributed. And then of course, the hostage crisis.
So, I hadn't heard of the Carter doctrine, that was interesting to read about, but graded on the scale of modern US foreign policy interventions, that is like... Not THAT bad, at all. (this is at first blush, from a non-expert, obviously)
You really need to look at this in historical context. A lot of Carter's policies paved the way for the godforsaken awfulness of subsequent presidencies, in a way past presidencies hadn't.
Being the best American President in the last 50 years is a really fucking low bar for most working class, anti-war, environmentally conscience Americans
A bunch of people who have never even heard of the IRA but will assure you the climate is their number 1 issue are about to hound your replies about how Biden was such a failure
Whenever I tell someone ranting about how our country refuses to invest in infrastructure how much Biden invested in infrastructure, the only thing that ever gets deleted is my comment.
It's astonishing how many people let a psyop convince them that with a single phone call, Biden could end a war being waged by hard right extremists allied with Trump.
He handled it badly, but the GOP House would never have allowed Biden to cut Israel off!
literally was just saying this! man was *explicitly* a neoliberal shill!! that's nominally dispositive for being unworthy of admiration among a certain set regardless of one's other policy stances or (complicated) legacy
Carter was considered one of the worst for a long time too. It was only in his post presidency, once more was known about his administration, that he become more respected.
He appointed Merrick Garland, who dithered and dithered. When we're dealing with fascist criminal opposition, nobody is hiding behind a curtain ready to give out a gold star for being Prudent and Sensible. The implicit objective should have been to imprison Very Obvious Criminal Donald Trump.
“If only America had seen Carter’s real accomplishments and hadn’t senselessly turned him into a figure of contempt, we could have avoided electing the clownish TV star who followed in his wake.”
*two minutes later*
“Joe Biden is a do-nothing whose entire administration is a failure”
Presidents are more often than now looked at more critically and negatively when they're actually the sitting the president. It's not until long after they have left the White House when history will reassess how they governed during their time in office, especially if their successors fair worse.
Carter was the advent of neoliberal policy failure and Democratic warmonging (El Salvador, draft registration, Olympics boycott) and Biden its final continuation. A great ex-president but the opposite of what we needed in 1977. He completely squandered the Dems' post-Watergate advantage.
Kissinger will be absolutely thrilled to hear you come down on Carter like that. Yeesh. I have no idea why you think Carter ‘starts’ anything after FDR, Truman, and Kennedy all kicked off wars. So did most of the other 20th Century Presidents. You have a strange idea of where things start.
He could have stopped it but he advanced it. If he wanted to create a break from Kissinger he didn't need to pick Zbigniew Brzezinski or Harold Brown, or push to build the MX missile system.
He spent every single year after his presidency until today trying and doing good things. Actual good things. He was eye rolled by idiots like you when he talked about the dangers & corruptions that are all hitting now
Biden will be remembered for mass slaughter & keeping the door open for fascism
I think when Carter left office in 1981 people thought of him as the worst president of all time. The same was said for Truman. But now, they're both viewed more positively than negatively. The same will happen to Joe Biden long after he's out of the White House.
Either way, history will assess Biden a lot more differently than how the public is viewing him now. Presidents during their times in office are looked at much more differently years and decades ahead than in their current times.
Neither was I. Cause Carter was voted out overwhelmingly in 1980. The economy was suffering from stagflation and from the Iranian hostage crisis. His presidency wasn't the best, but he campaigned on being honest to Americans post Watergate and Vietnam. And his Camp David Accords stands to this day.
No, stagflation was something that was caused by the slowing economy and high inflation from the 1973 Yom Kippur war and the Iranian Revolution. The 70s was when the rust belt states started to become known for what they are today.
He helped defend Ukraine against Russian aggression, ended the Afghanistan war, facilitated American reinvestment in infrastructure and clean energy. I have VA healthcare because of the PACT act. We've had four years of no scandals. Look at the positive sides of his presidency more then the bad.
Fundamentally, Biden's task was to stop Trump and repair the damage he caused. He failed, badly. He accomplished a lot, but I don't think his accomplishments will last precisely because Trump is going to be President again, gods help us all. To say nothing of half-assing Ukraine and botching Gaza.
Ukraine isn’t going to be a bright mark on his record. Giving them enough to bloody up the Russians but not enough to win was a mistake we’re going to be paying for for a long time.
Biden, as president, was definitely to the left of Carter. Carter started us on the path to deregulation and neoliberalism that Reagan would turn into a fundamentalist religion. But at the end of the day, Carter was a decent man, everything the Right said they wanted in a leader, only to spurn him.
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Biden is the other guy.
He was not a great president.
The modern presidential era is full of Reagans, Nixons, and Bushes - - what makes Carter "not great" in company like that?
He handled it badly, but the GOP House would never have allowed Biden to cut Israel off!
I could see viewing them differently
If Biden were younger he could work to do that, but his legacy is now going to be the return of Trump.
*two minutes later*
“Joe Biden is a do-nothing whose entire administration is a failure”
Biden will be remembered for mass slaughter & keeping the door open for fascism
Biden won't have a chance.
I'm very frustrated w/U.S. support for Israel but that isn't something that started w/Biden