I am completely ready to get trashed for saying this, but I think Jimmy meant well and made ultimately meaningless efforts to rein in the permanent bureaucracy. He was the 1-term Trump of 45 years ago
“Reaganland” by Perlstein, is actually a granular rehash of the Carter presidency. He meant well, but was his own worst enemy in nearly every action he attempted. A good man in an unenviable situation, and Reagan played him like a well tuned fiddle. I wouldn’t compare him to Trump in any manner whatsoever. Carter had an immense intellect, but an intellect entirely unsuited for the job. Trump, otoh, is absent cognitive ability. I mean, here’s a guy that was portrayed as some form of brilliant deal maker, put in a position where he could have worked myriad deals and come out as the greatest Prez in American history and gotten rich doing it, and he’s essentially just proven what a dork and incompetent he is. His latest, letting himself be taped in the con of looking for 11,000+ votes, only shows what a dweeb he is.
Thanks for the rec, and I admit my comparison of Carter to Trump was lazy. It's impossible for me at this point to remember what details I read when and where, but I thought Fritz Mondale's autobiography was particularly illuminating; he admired Carter's work ethic but was baffled by his personal coldness -- somebody who kept everybody away emotionally.
My sense is that Jimmy got dumped in a shark tank with no pre-existing support network and spent 4 years trying furiously to keep his head above water. I guess that's where my Trump comparison comes from.
Not lazy. There really isn’t anyone to compare either Prez to. Both were out of their element, one well intended with skills entirely mismatched to the job and the other just a cheap shyster and a crook. Reaganland is a great read, but what surprised me is it’s really nearly all about Carter and how he set the stage for Reagan.
Haha, yes, I remember reading about this. One of the main reasons why Carter was ultimately ineffectual was that he was a workaholic control freak who couldn't delegate authority. He'd work 20-hour days doing shit like that instead.
The Church Committee (starting, admittedly, pre-Carter) was at least an effort. Carter appointing ADM Turner to clean house at CIA was another one. Frank, Stansfield, and Jimmy all failed in the end, but at least they tried. I might be too kind to career bureaucrats.
Jimmy Carter is the 2 wolves inside you. I am not going to argue that I would have been a better President of the USA in 1978.
Leonid frickin Brezhnev called up DC on the red phone to ask Carter what the hell he was thinking and why did he want to trigger a war when Carter proposed removing US troops from the 38th parallel in 1977 or 78.
Brezhnev was an awesomely lazy man; so lazy you have to admire his sheer chutzpah of inaction. He and Carter were more or less good ol' boys right up until Leonid made the mistake of doing a thing and invaded Afghanistan. It's funny -- Carter rode into office on the back of Nixon-engineered detente, but started what is popularly thought of as "Reagan's" defense buildup in his last year of office. One of the weirdest volte-faces from dove to hawk in American executive politics. Woodrow Wilson is comparable, maybe?
Woodrow Wilson was the most evil piece of shit ever elected to public office in the United States. He was basically Emperor Palpatine w/ less technology at his disposal.
Guys like Harding and Coolidge (Pierce? Arthur?) tend to get knocked around by historians for being corrupt do-nothing shitheels, but at least they didn't do that much harm, either. We're still living in the Empire Woody made.
It's a curious phenomenon that the people who do the most actual harm in the world tend to view themselves as the most rectitudinous. Happens over and over again, like a stuck record.
You are correct about Brezhnev’s laziness-he had a giant tower built in the middle of a forest preserve so he and his buddies could just snipe game instead of actually hunting. He let the Soviet economy float for the 1970s on high oil/gas prices.
Come on! be honest, it was trashed by Jimmy Carter.
I am completely ready to get trashed for saying this, but I think Jimmy meant well and made ultimately meaningless efforts to rein in the permanent bureaucracy. He was the 1-term Trump of 45 years ago
“Reaganland” by Perlstein, is actually a granular rehash of the Carter presidency. He meant well, but was his own worst enemy in nearly every action he attempted. A good man in an unenviable situation, and Reagan played him like a well tuned fiddle. I wouldn’t compare him to Trump in any manner whatsoever. Carter had an immense intellect, but an intellect entirely unsuited for the job. Trump, otoh, is absent cognitive ability. I mean, here’s a guy that was portrayed as some form of brilliant deal maker, put in a position where he could have worked myriad deals and come out as the greatest Prez in American history and gotten rich doing it, and he’s essentially just proven what a dork and incompetent he is. His latest, letting himself be taped in the con of looking for 11,000+ votes, only shows what a dweeb he is.
Thanks for the rec, and I admit my comparison of Carter to Trump was lazy. It's impossible for me at this point to remember what details I read when and where, but I thought Fritz Mondale's autobiography was particularly illuminating; he admired Carter's work ethic but was baffled by his personal coldness -- somebody who kept everybody away emotionally.
My sense is that Jimmy got dumped in a shark tank with no pre-existing support network and spent 4 years trying furiously to keep his head above water. I guess that's where my Trump comparison comes from.
Not lazy. There really isn’t anyone to compare either Prez to. Both were out of their element, one well intended with skills entirely mismatched to the job and the other just a cheap shyster and a crook. Reaganland is a great read, but what surprised me is it’s really nearly all about Carter and how he set the stage for Reagan.
In what way did Jimmy Carter try to rein in the permanent bureaucracy?
Carter was an inveterate micromanager-he personally maintained the schedule for the WH tennis court.
Haha, yes, I remember reading about this. One of the main reasons why Carter was ultimately ineffectual was that he was a workaholic control freak who couldn't delegate authority. He'd work 20-hour days doing shit like that instead.
The Church Committee (starting, admittedly, pre-Carter) was at least an effort. Carter appointing ADM Turner to clean house at CIA was another one. Frank, Stansfield, and Jimmy all failed in the end, but at least they tried. I might be too kind to career bureaucrats.
Jimmy Carter is the 2 wolves inside you. I am not going to argue that I would have been a better President of the USA in 1978.
I should find a good book on that CIA time
There are many! One of my favorites is John Stockwell's "In Search of Enemies." He quit the CIA not too long before the "Halloween Massacre": https://www.amazon.com/Search-Enemies-CIA-Story/dp/0393009262
From this period, although fictionalized, is this. https://www.amazon.com/Shadow-Trade-Alan-Furst/dp/0440076986
Leonid frickin Brezhnev called up DC on the red phone to ask Carter what the hell he was thinking and why did he want to trigger a war when Carter proposed removing US troops from the 38th parallel in 1977 or 78.
Brezhnev was an awesomely lazy man; so lazy you have to admire his sheer chutzpah of inaction. He and Carter were more or less good ol' boys right up until Leonid made the mistake of doing a thing and invaded Afghanistan. It's funny -- Carter rode into office on the back of Nixon-engineered detente, but started what is popularly thought of as "Reagan's" defense buildup in his last year of office. One of the weirdest volte-faces from dove to hawk in American executive politics. Woodrow Wilson is comparable, maybe?
Woodrow Wilson was the most evil piece of shit ever elected to public office in the United States. He was basically Emperor Palpatine w/ less technology at his disposal.
Oh yeah. At the absolute bottom of my list.
Guys like Harding and Coolidge (Pierce? Arthur?) tend to get knocked around by historians for being corrupt do-nothing shitheels, but at least they didn't do that much harm, either. We're still living in the Empire Woody made.
It's a curious phenomenon that the people who do the most actual harm in the world tend to view themselves as the most rectitudinous. Happens over and over again, like a stuck record.
You are correct about Brezhnev’s laziness-he had a giant tower built in the middle of a forest preserve so he and his buddies could just snipe game instead of actually hunting. He let the Soviet economy float for the 1970s on high oil/gas prices.
Brezhnev was the career bureaucrat perfected to its absolute pinnacle. The New Soviet Man. A god.
Russians refer to the Brezhnev regime as "The Era of Stagnation." Arguably, being stagnant beats getting sent to the gulag.