Carter says Bush is worst president ever;
Gingrich hits lower: Bush is worst since Carter
Jimmy Carter recently came under fire for saying that the Bush (43) presidency’s foreign policy is the worst in American history. He later distanced himself from the remarks by calling them careless. This past week, former Speaker Newt Gingrich said that the Bush presidency has become the Republican version of the Carter presidency where nothing seems to go right. I’m not sure which remark is more offensive to President Bush. There are three points here that I think are important:
1) Gingrich’s remarks, whatever you think of him, are piercing and correct.
2) Carter’s remarks, whatever you think of him, are iercing and correct. Carter has the added advantage of multi tasking: he is pompous, hypocritical, right and wrong--all at once! Carter’s remarks have the same accuracy factor as Gingrich’s except that he can’t help but seem hypocritical given that his presidency was such a disaster. The ProConPundit, for the record, has great respect for President Carter and the work he has done since leaving The White House. He is the best former president in American history.
3) The real issue that the ProConPundit thinks merits reflection is the whole debate about the appropriateness of former presidents to speak out against current presidents or their policies?
There seems to be something of an unwritten rule that former presidents shouldn’t criticize their successors. I like the idea in the sense that they construct a very small club of people uniquely able to empathize with each other. When presidents of opposite parties and even ones who have been beat by their predecessors stand up for them, I think it speaks well of our common unity. So when they avoid the cheap and easy shots of bashing each other, I think that is virtuous. However, lets consider a few things:
1) Presidents Ford and Nixon never publicly criticized President Carter during his own disastrous time as president. Good or bad?
2) Presidents Truman and Eisenhower never spoke out publicly against President Johnson during his wrong escalation of the Vietnam war. If they had, perhaps the war would have ended sooner? What do you think they should have done?
3) Presidents Carter, Ford and Bush (41) never spoke out publicly against President Clinton during the impeachment. If they had, their voices may have swayed another five votes in the senate which would have removed Clinton from office. Should they have?
4) After President Ford’s death, we learned that he was against the Iraq War but would only tell the reporter that on the condition that no one know this until after his death. Had he made those views public at the time we went to war, would it have made a difference? Or would he have been ridiculed as Carter is? That was how much Ford honored the "code of silence?"
Jimmy Carter recently came under fire for saying that the Bush (43) presidency’s foreign policy is the worst in American history. He later distanced himself from the remarks by calling them careless. This past week, former Speaker Newt Gingrich said that the Bush presidency has become the Republican version of the Carter presidency where nothing seems to go right. I’m not sure which remark is more offensive to President Bush. There are three points here that I think are important:
1) Gingrich’s remarks, whatever you think of him, are piercing and correct.
2) Carter’s remarks, whatever you think of him, are iercing and correct. Carter has the added advantage of multi tasking: he is pompous, hypocritical, right and wrong--all at once! Carter’s remarks have the same accuracy factor as Gingrich’s except that he can’t help but seem hypocritical given that his presidency was such a disaster. The ProConPundit, for the record, has great respect for President Carter and the work he has done since leaving The White House. He is the best former president in American history.
3) The real issue that the ProConPundit thinks merits reflection is the whole debate about the appropriateness of former presidents to speak out against current presidents or their policies?
There seems to be something of an unwritten rule that former presidents shouldn’t criticize their successors. I like the idea in the sense that they construct a very small club of people uniquely able to empathize with each other. When presidents of opposite parties and even ones who have been beat by their predecessors stand up for them, I think it speaks well of our common unity. So when they avoid the cheap and easy shots of bashing each other, I think that is virtuous. However, lets consider a few things:
1) Presidents Ford and Nixon never publicly criticized President Carter during his own disastrous time as president. Good or bad?
2) Presidents Truman and Eisenhower never spoke out publicly against President Johnson during his wrong escalation of the Vietnam war. If they had, perhaps the war would have ended sooner? What do you think they should have done?
3) Presidents Carter, Ford and Bush (41) never spoke out publicly against President Clinton during the impeachment. If they had, their voices may have swayed another five votes in the senate which would have removed Clinton from office. Should they have?
4) After President Ford’s death, we learned that he was against the Iraq War but would only tell the reporter that on the condition that no one know this until after his death. Had he made those views public at the time we went to war, would it have made a difference? Or would he have been ridiculed as Carter is? That was how much Ford honored the "code of silence?"
What do you think?
1 comment:
President Carter was the worst President in History both while in office and out of office. When Carter was elected President I was a young man serving in the U.S. Army. While under Ford we were well equipped and well trained. It was not long after Carter came into office that we were no longer able to get equipment serviced. I had friends in Germany in an Armor unit who could not fire up their tanks because lack of replacement parts and fuel. I was serving in an Infantry unit and while on manuvers had to yell "Bang Bang" when firing our weapons because we could not even get blanks. After I got out of the Army, I married and wanted to buy a home. But Mr. Carter had other plans. A home loan came with an 18% interest rate. No young couple could even dream of owning a home. If things were not bad enough at home Carter had to humiliate the strongest nation on earth by sitting back and doing nothing as we were taken hostage in Iran. The problems with our intellegence services today date back to the Carter adminstration. Until Carter became President I held no strong political beliefs. I credit him for one thing, making me a Republican! I take exception to your remark that he is the best President (out of office.) His obvious hatered of Israel, his comments about sitting U.S. Presidents and his visits with such anti Americans as Castro just to name a few things, should cause you pause as you reflect back on your statement. I think that you are allowing his work with Habitat for Humanity to have a halo effect on all his lack of accomplishments. As a Republican am I upset with President Bush? Yes, he has ignored many of our voices who elected him to office (the border) just to name one thing. For Carter to call him the worst President in history is his like Hitler calling Mussolini a facist.
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