A Wholly Admirable Person

I owe you readers a tome on the world beyond, but the passing of President Jimmy Carter today pushes my thoughts back to domestic "res publica". 

The chorus of eloquent praise to Carter and his legacy is heartwarming and unanimous. I will say that the eulogists had plenty of time to prepare their words, as he has been in declining health for several years, in hospice itself for two.  His mammoth accomplishments in life extended way beyond his four years in the White House, which were themselves highly significant in US and world history. I particularly liked President Biden's recommendation to young people to study Carter's life as a model.*

I'd like to focus on his second greatest triumph--after the Begin-Sadat peace accords in '78--his dramatic Presidential campaign and electoral victory in 1976.  I remember a lot of it very well, as it was my own first Presidential election. Eighteen-year-olds had just gotten the vote, which in those years of demographic upheaval seemed to have great importance. At least the disconnect between the draft age and the voting age had been addressed.  Carter was a surprise winner in the Democratic primaries; he was a first-term Georgia governor who had come from next-to-nowhere to win that office.  

In the general election, he had several advantages which allowed him to overcome the great advantage (greater back then) of the incumbency of President Ford in a close, fair election. Number one was that he was, correctly, viewed as a big change from the ruthless, unclean presidency of Richard Nixon, and his pardoner, the unelected Gerald Ford.  For the election he was able to present himself as honest, accomplished but humble, and intelligent.  The key moment of the campaign in one sense was Ford's misspoken claim that Eastern European nations were not dominated by the Soviet Union. The electoral key to Carter's victory, which Bill Clinton was later able to replicate, was to break up the Solid South for the Republicans, which none of the other Democratic Presidential candidates of the era were able to do. His win was a great relief for all from the ongoing culture wars focused around the generation gap, lingering after the antiwar protests and racial strife of the previous years, and a recognition of the rising power of the Baby Boom generation.  The result was close, with a margin similar to this year's one, but accepted by all. 

Carter resembled in many ways my ideal statesman, one who rose to the top through pure merit, who served without seeking personal gain, and then returned to a virtuous life after leaving public office.  He had ambitions, but they were about accomplishing things for the people, and his political ambitions ended up being cruelly crushed in 1980, due mostly to events beyond his control (Iran hostages, economic weakness), but also because he was willing to take chances, some of which were unpopular politically. Objections to them, from left and right, and a general sense that, while he worked tirelessly, his administration was not effective, mounted to the point that he was vulnerable politically. I personally was out of the country in 1980, so I missed most of the campaign, but I believed it impossible the voters could elect Ronald Reagan, and I was disappointed in how Carter's term was going. My vote that year, my first and last ever for a Republican (even if he ran as an Independent), John Anderson, was one I remembered and regretted forever after. 

You could say that he was too nice to be President of this country, and I would not dispute it.  If you look at the whole of his life though, he cannot be criticized. 

 Unacceptable:  That's What We Are

“Many people have come up to me, telling me they feel tired… maybe even resigned… That they’re not sure whether they have the strength, much less the desire, to stay in the fight. But let me be very clear: no one can walk away.”

— Vice President Kamala Harris, quoted by CNN.

I would like to look more closely at that closing line.  She is seeking to regroup support for yet another fight, that is her intent, but I want to challenge the assertion.  For example, it may be much wiser to--in the figurative sense--leave involvement behind, to drop a growing compulsion to take some action which one will regret, if they even have the chance to regret it later.  Perhaps some thought that way already, but the November election was the wrong time to withdraw. Better than surrendering to Trump, though, which uncountably many have done. 

I do concede one thing:  there is nowhere on this planet where one will be totally beyond the impact of this ugly phase of the domestic US political evolution. Personally,  I think it is altogether advisable to experience from abroad the stink a'risin'.. 

“The one thing I’ve always believed about public service, and especially about the presidency, is the importance of asking yourself: ‘Have we left the country in better shape than we found it?’ Today, I can say, with every fiber of my being, of all my heart, the answer to that question is a resounding ‘yes.’“

— President Biden, quoted by ABC News, at a holiday party for DNC staff. Courtesy of my good source Political Wire. 

My first reaction:  What do you mean by "we"?  Are you and your family leaving the country, too?  There shouldn't be too much concern for injustice imposed by the DOJ/FBI, given the Supreme Court's view of Presidential immunity, but on the other hand, you can't rely on those guys.

My second:  The country is not in better shape than 2021, though it's not his fault.  The clear evidence of that is/was Trump's electoral victory.  Perception is reality in this case, and, despite what anyone else may say, we are not in better shape to face our future, which is what matters.  The problem is not the economy, or the borders; it's in our minds. 

Yale Professor Timothy Snyder is perhaps way too much out there in the internet traffic these days:  who wants to hear about history, when we're making (breaking) it now?  (/s)  I will give him credit, though, for the verbal epiphany of "mump" to describe the Musk/Trump duopoly of power.  The sickness coming now has a good name, even if Elon has to hit the space highway soon:  this will be a case of The Mumps.

 

 *Note: J.C.  Just sayin'; he's something like a Protestant saint, if his religion had 'em.