O'Contraire: Why Jimmy Carter is Worse than Bill Clinton

postchronicle ^ | Mar 31, 2006 | Daniel Clark

[ncountylee]

Back in 1993, P.J. O'Rourke wrote an essay entitled, "50+ Reasons Why Jimmy Carter Was a Better President Than Bill Clinton." I agreed with it at the time, but now I demand a recount. Little did O'Rourke know then that Carter was about to embark on a megalomaniacal campaign to become a "great ex-president," inspired by the outpouring of admiration for Richard Nixon upon his death in 1994. As long former president Carter's reputation is being revised, it might as well be done accurately. To that end, here's a list to rebut Mr. O'Rourke's, by explaining why Jimmy Carter is even worse than Bill Clinton.

* Clinton is only one draft-dodger, but Carter pardoned them all.

* If Clinton's brother marketed his own beer, it would probably be pretty good.

* The atrocious Agreed Framework with North Korea was Carter's idea. Clinton only signed it out of his characteristic lack of conviction.

* As childish as Clinton can be about many things, at least he doesn't tell people to call him Billy.

* Carter brought Walter Mondale within a heartbeat of the presidency. Clinton banished him to Japan.

* Clinton helped the Democrats lose control of the House of Representatives for the first time in forty years, whereas all of Carter's ineptitude was not enough to dislodge Speaker Tip O'Neill.

* Unlike James Earl Carter, William Jefferson Clinton does not share the first two names of a famous assassin.

* When Clinton acts as a tool for despotic foreign governments, at least he's smart enough to get something out of the deal for himself.

[Mr. Mojo]

.......a megalomaniacal campaign to become a "great ex-president," iinspired by the outpouring of admiration for Richard Nixon upon his death in 1994

So Jimmah thinks that by waltizing around the world brown-nosing Islamist/communist dictators he'll get back into America's good graces?

[Gordongekko909]

I agree. Clinton > Carter. Which is like saying "paper cut on the eyeball > being slowly dipped feet-first in a vat of acid."

[SandRat]

Read the book "The Real Jimmy Carter" and be thoroughly disgusted with him.

[bkepley]

He's way to kind to Carter.

[NY Cajun]

How can Carter be worse than Clinton?
Clinton brought Hillary to the White House.
You know the rest of the story.

[George W. Bush]

This made me grin.

[Migraine]

It's a tough choice: it's like asking someone if they'd rather drink pus cola or eat a scab sandwich.

[Keith in Iowa]

they're both doodies in the swimming pool of life.

[Slings and Arrows]

* Clinton cheats on his golf scorecards, but if Carter were officiating, he'd certify them.

[Brian Allen]

<< .... P.J. O'Rourke wrote an essay entitled, "50+ Reasons Why Jimmy Carter Was a Better President Than Bill Clinton." I agreed with it at the time, but now I demand a recount .... >>

I also agreed back then - but now I accept the likelyhood that, notwithstanding the vote's still in progress, it's beginning to seem likely the ongoing recount will reverse the original result.

[Riley]

Which is like saying "paper cut on the eyeball > being slowly dipped feet-first in a vat of acid."

Guh! (does horror shimmy) First it was the 'dog gets his tongue caught in the paper shredder' thread, then it's 'paper cuts on the eyeballs' then we have to talk about Jimmah, too!

This is NOT my day to be reading on FR!

[Paulus Invictus]

Cahter also gave Kerry a pass on his less-than honorable Naval discharge and pardoned all the Canada-runners who evaded the draft during VN. Cahter is sewer scum, Clintoon is a floater on top of the sewer. Take your pick!

[yarddog]

Clinton or Carter. What a choice.

My personal view is Clinton was a worse man but not by much. Carter was a worse president, but not by much either.

[RobbyS]

Carter was a much worse president than Clinton. No president since Hoover has made a bigger hash of the economy than Hoover, and he set in motion the Islamic movement through his inept handling of the Iran hostage crisis.

[manwiththehands]

It's like flipping a cow pie and calling heads or tails.

[PGalt]

I usually don't compare. I just flush.

[wagglebee]

Klintoon made policy based upon what the polls said, he would do the right thing if the bad guys weren't willing to fork over enough money and his sex drive kept him out of the way a lot of the time.

The peanut farmer went out of his way to harm the United States.

[Tribune7]

Jimmy Carter was worse than Clinton. OTOH, he was better than LBJ.

[RichInOC]

"Gregg, what is the worst fraternity on this campus?"
"Well, that would be hard to say, sir. They're each outstanding in their own way...."

--Dean Vernon Wormer (John Vernon) and Gregg Marmalard (James Daughton), National Lampoon's Animal House

[GraceCoolidge]

Excellent summary! I wonder if P.J. O'Rourke will respond to the piece???

[DemforBush]

Clinton was degenerate, spineless, and corrupt, but Carter was and is a delusional self-righteous fool. Imagine if he had been re-elected in 1980!

[Savage Beast]

"Why Jimmy Carter is Worse than Bill Clinton"

That's easy: A fool is more dangerous than a scoundrel. Everybody know that.

(And these are the two prime archetypes.)

[Savage Beast]

It's a hard call, but: Note tagline.

[Pan_Yans Wife]

Carter has written approx. twenty books trying to re-write his legacy. And in some corners, it is working.

[ncountylee]

Jimmy...Mount Rushmore's not happening, baby.

[Verginius Rufus]

If it had not been for Carter's ineptness in dealing with Iran, Ayatollah Khomenei might have lived out his life in exile.

[Windsong]

Then there was that botched rescue mission in Iran with the Green Berets (way to go)

[ncountylee]

During the briefing for the rescue mission in Iran one of Carter's advisers asked the briefer "what's take them out mean". When the double tap protocol was explained to him, the turkey was aghast and wanted the guards wounded.

The mission should have been canceled on the spot!

[DocRock]

Clinton never made himself look like an idiot when attacked by killer rabbits...

[CowboyJay]

If Mr. Clark wishes to be taken seriously, he can start by spelling 'eau contraire' correctly. I'd conjecture that along with disagreeing with him in the Carter/Clinton treasonometer debate, he would probably deplore improper spelling from a journalist as 'bad form'.

As for me, I'd prefer an honest fool with good intentions to a dishonest crook with nothing but treason and self-gratification on his mind.

Jimmah was far from the worst President of the 20th century. I'd put Komrade Klinton towards the top of the list alongside Woodrow Wilson.

[Beckwith]

Jimmah Carter was the worst prsident ever.

The only thing he's done worse than being president is being ex-president.

[Just mythoughts]

The only thing that checked Clintonism was a Republican House of Representatives.

[napscoordinator]

Clinton or Carter. What a choice.
My personal view is Clinton was a worse man but not by much. Carter was a worse president, but not by much either.


In some ways I agree with you, but lately my respect for Carter as a person has dropped big time. The ONLY thing that Clinton has going for him is he is a extremely good speaker, but has absolutely no morals. I would pick Clinton over Carter if that was the choice. Carter still pissed me off about the Panama Canal giveaway and those damn long gas lines.

[PeoplesRepublicOfWashington]

.......a megalomaniacal campaign to become a "great ex-president," iinspired by the outpouring of admiration for Richard Nixon upon his death in 1994

I remember watching Carter at Nixon's funeral. He had a not-that-subtly amazed look on his face in reaction to all the great things everyone was saying about Nixon. You could see the wheels turning in his head: "If Nixon can fall into an outhouse and end up smelling like a rose, I should be able to rebound from my disasterous term in office!"

Nixon had so much more class than Carter could ever hope to muster. For one thing, he'd have never considered betraying his country.

[RobbyS]

unchecked by a Democratic Congress, Carter's actions were more feckless. Whatelse Clinton MIGHT have done is beside the point.

[FreedomPoster]

Just for the record, LBJ was worse than both.

I fully expect that Carter will remain the worst foreign policy President of my lifetime, with Johnson as the worst domestic policy President, and overall "winner".

[Just mythoughts]

Actually not true, because we this day are only still discovering what Clintons planted the world over. Carter did not have the seductive powers the Clintons possessed as Carter was rooted out in four years whereas the Clintons continuously polled with a two thirds popular support and I have no doubt were it possible the Clintons would have been reelected for a third term.

[RobbyS]

Can't we stick with what each guy actually did? This other stuff is speculative.

[Just mythoughts]

"Can't we stick with what each guy actually did? This other stuff is speculative."

Clintons stated foreign policy was "equalize all nations" and nuclear was their equalizer. Clintons attempted to nationalize health-care and only a Republican House stopped them. There was the Kyoto Treaty attempt which had no other purpose than to bring US down to the same standard as the rest of the world. How about using the INS as the Clintons own personal get out the illegal vote agency.

The Clintons made it a habit of touring the world making public apologies for the 'evils' in American history.

The Clintons made public consumption for my children their deviant perverted behavior.

[CDHart]

Should be "au contraire" not "o'contraire." It's French, not Irish, for heaven's sake.

Carolyn

[Vote 4 Nixon]

The first thing I think of when I hear Jimmy's name spoken is the fact that he is the walking turd who gave away the canal. Oh I almost forgot about desert one. Sheesh!

[Let's Roll]

IMO because Carter is stupid and that makes him much more dangerous.

Beelzebubba may be just as amoral, but he's at least bright enough to know what's in his best interest.

[ishabibble]

So very true. If Carter had bombed Iran into perdition the day that the hostages were first taken, we wouldn't have heard from these evil POSs for another century.
A small and forgotten sidenote. The "students" who took over the embassy in Tehran let all the black personnel go, which further split the U.S. apart.

"United We Stand Divided We Fall" is fast becoming our reality. Jimmy Carter opened the door for terrorism against all Americans

[RobbyS]

It also shows the divisive effect of the civil rights movement. Since then our politics has been balkanized. It now seems. however, that the blacks will have to reconsider their lock-step alliance with the Democratic Party as the Latino vote surges. Immigrants take away jobs more from blacks than from whites.

[Question_Assumptions]

Jimmy was the worst President of the 20th Century. Almost all of our problems in the Middle East can be traced back to mistakes that Jimmy made, from losing Iran to the Islamofascists to letting the Soviets invade Afghanistan and includes doing nothing to deter the Iran-Iraq war, nothing to stop the destruction of Lebanon, and so forth. Even if peace treaty between Israel and Egypt got Anwar Sadat killed and Egypt has only been getting more radical since.

And that doesn't even touch on the other disasters during his Presidency in the Americas, Asia, and Africa. He was worse than useless.

[Gordongekko909]

Oh, no question. LBJ sucked hard. Damn Groovy Society program. I think the only reason why he isn't generally placed in the bottom two is because his policies didn't start to have a visible effect until later. We finally sunk into the depths of the hole that he dug during the Ford/Carter years, so people starting paying more attention to economic issues with the advent of Whip Inflation Now and such.

And with people paying attention, Carter failed spectacularly. Johnson had a wave to ride, much like Clinton did from the Reagan policies, so he gets a pass. He ran on Kennedy's legacy, and there was still some life in the post-war economic boom. On top of that, he had the foresight to bail out when his numbers were in the toilet rather than try for a third (or second-and-a-half, as it were) term.

That, and an inordinately large number of libs who don't like him because of Vietnam are convinced, beyond all reckoning, that he was a Republican. I can't even count all the times I've had to clear that up. If people start looking too closely at him, then it will become clear that Johnson was, in fact, a Democrat.