Discuss.

4/29/2008 12:33:55 AM

If he loses I could see that.

If he's elected he'll be another Jimmy Carter.

4/29/2008 12:40:24 AM

factoid: Jimmy Carter held a press conference urging the Dems not to nominate McGovern in 1972 because he was too liberal and therefore unelectable.

4/29/2008 3:05:10 AM

At least someone else sees this year as 1968 all over again.

4/29/2008 3:23:40 AM

I didn't know much about McGovern aside from reading about his service in WWII in Stephen Ambrose's book The Wild Blue. After your post I did some reading and saw that he was a Methodist minister for a brief period. I'm not offering any deep commentary, but I would be amazed if the democrats nominated anyone with any kind of religious background for any election this decade.

4/29/2008 3:28:09 AM

Yes.

And I don't think Reverend Wrong actually wants Obama to be elected--if Obama is elected, Reverend Wrong can't attack the "white man" in the White House. If Obama isn't elected, Reverend Wrong can say, "See? The white folks won't vote for you. . .blah, blah, blather."

4/29/2008 5:37:46 AM

No. Most Obama supporters have had a haircut.

4/29/2008 6:35:22 AM

Jimmy Carter is a good man.

4/29/2008 8:23:06 AM

carter had some good ideas (particularly as an early voice for conservation and the environment), but he made some boneheaded decisions and was terrible at working the media. oh yeah and he was president during a tough financial time, so that never makes a president look good regardless of how good of a job they may or may not have done.

4/29/2008 8:26:35 AM

Quote :

"Jimmy Carter is a good man."

He might be a wonderful Georgia gentleman, but he was a shittastic president.

4/29/2008 9:09:20 AM

Quote :

"shittastic"

LOL

4/29/2008 9:11:53 AM

Quote :

"Yes. And I don't think Reverend Wrong actually wants Obama to be elected--if Obama is elected, Reverend Wrong can't attack the "white man" in the White House. If Obama isn't elected, Reverend Wrong can say, "See? The white folks won't vote for you. . .blah, blah, blather." "

thanks for your opinion, but wtf does that have to do with this thread? Or are you just trying to put in your 2 cents about "reverend wrong" in any thread you can?

4/29/2008 9:20:15 AM

I think it's possible. There are certainly a lot of parallels. He was an anti-war candidate that commands the youth vote and wins a close race for the party's nomination in 1972. I guess only time will tell if Obama also loses the GE in a double digit defeat.

But I really don't think Obama will lose by that big of a margin (despite the occasional rhetorical flourish).

4/29/2008 9:38:57 AM

anyone who thinks carter wasn't a good president, please explain in full. I've heard that from many people but i've never heard a convincing claim on the matter. I'm not saying its not the case, yet, rather, offering an opportunity to be educated...without having a need for an OMGoogle!

4/29/2008 9:45:14 AM

^^^ Piss off.

^ No Google, huh? How about Dictionary.com?

misery index

Quote :

"an unofficial indication of a nation's economic health, derived by adding the percentage rate of inflation to the percentage of unemployed workers: With inflation running at 15 percent and unemployment at 8 percent, the misery index is 23 percent. [Origin: 1975–80]"

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/misery%20index

4/29/2008 9:54:12 AM

^ so what you're saying is that you really don't have a set of reasons that you know which have formed your position and thus could use to discuss and inform.

interesting.

4/29/2008 10:07:55 AM

Carter was a disaster as a President. Particularly glaring were his foreign policy decisions in Iran and Afghanistan that sowed the seeds for the rise of the Islamic fundamentalist movement.

- In 1979 he created a covert operation providing training and weapons to Islamic militants in Afghanistan. These actions led to the rise of islamic fundamentalism and the creation of Al Qaeda.

- When it became clear that the Shah of Iran was facing major trouble, Carter had no idea what to do. Despite assuring the Shah repeatedly that the US would provide military aid, the administration simply sat and watched while the islamic revolution took place. Ayatollah Khomeini would have never assumed power without the aquiesence of Carter.

- Carter's handling of the Iran Hostage Crisis was pathetic. 52 hostages were held for more than a year, and Carter's attempts to free them via negotiation and a military operation both failed miserably. His lack of leadership in the ordeal was particularly glaring. They were freed on the day of Reagan's inaguration.

- His handling of the economy and the energy crisis were laughable. Although he inherited a shitty economy, he did nothing to fix it. By appointing Volcker as Chairman of the Fed, he extended the recession into the 80's through disasterous tight money policies when the country desperately needed tax reform.

Basically, his presidency was a disaster in foreign policy on the scale of George W. Bush's term, only in a shorter time period. His record was marked by ineptitude and lack of leadership.

nice guy, though.

4/29/2008 6:15:41 PM

the dems are really gonna have to fuck this one up to lose this election year

4/29/2008 6:18:03 PM

Quote :

"His handling of the economy and the energy crisis were laughable. Although he inherited a shitty economy, he did nothing to fix it. By appointing Volcker as Chairman of the Fed, he extended the recession into the 80's through disasterous tight money policies when the country desperately needed tax reform."

I agreed with you up until this point. The demand-side policies of LBJ and to a lesser extent, Nixon, with trying to use the currency to manage unemployment (instead of say, inflation) created the mess of stagflation to begin with. Tight money was exactly what was needed in this situation, even if it meant a painful and prolonged adjustment. This does not, however, dispute your point that serious tax reform was necessary as well - both were quite important.

Also, you forgot his disastrous response to the oil embargo. Price controls on gasoline? Helllooooooo gas lines and shortages. Epic fail.

...and his executive order to cease spent nuclear fuel reprocessing was particularly boneheaded, even if his heart was in the right place - not the least of which because it had the opposite of its intended effect of deterring proliferation.

[Edited on April 30, 2008 at 12:18 PM. Reason : Oh, well, I guess you did mention the energy crisis. Carry on.]

4/30/2008 12:18:06 PM