Jimmy Carter deserves a re-assessment - his foresight on the energy issue

[Craig234]

Jimmy Carter is highly criticized. For republicans it's a matter of dogma that his liberal flaws were ended by the great Reagan's restoration of the US to greatness.

I won't try in this post to address the cult dogma on Reagan, but suggest that Carter deserves credit, much as the then-despised Truman got credit later, for some things.

A leading area he deserves credit on is his recognition of the problems energy and foreign oil cause our nation.

I'll quote at length from his speech mocked by conservatives as the 'malaise' speech, but what should he do, pretend the problems weren't happening and take no action?

In little more than two decades we've gone from a position of energy independence to one in which almost half the oil we use comes from foreign countries, at prices that are going through the roof. Our excessive dependence on OPEC has already taken a tremendous toll on our economy and our people. . . .

This intolerable dependence on foreign oil threatens our economic independence and the very security of our nation. The energy crisis is real. It is worldwide. It is a clear and present danger to our nation. These are facts and we simply must face them. . . .

I am tonight setting a clear goal for the energy policy of the United States. Beginning this moment, this nation will never use more foreign oil than we did in 1977 -- never. From now on, every new addition to our demand for energy will be met from our own production and our own conservation. The generation-long growth in our dependence on foreign oil will be stopped dead in its tracks right now and then reversed as we move through the 1980s, for I am tonight setting the further goal of cutting our dependence on foreign oil by one-half by the end of the next decade -- a saving of over 4-1/2 million barrels of imported oil per day. . . .

To give us energy security, I am asking for the most massive peacetime commitment of funds and resources in our nation's history to develop America's own alternative sources of fuel --from coal, from oil shale, from plant products for gasohol, from unconventional gas, from the sun. . . .

I propose the creation of an energy security corporation to lead this effort to replace 2-1/2 million barrels of imported oil per day by 1990. The corporation I will issue up to $5 billion in energy bonds, and I especially want them to be in small denominations so that average Americans can invest directly in America's energy security. . . .

These efforts will cost money, a lot of money, and that is why Congress must enact the windfall profits tax without delay. It will be money well spent. Unlike the billions of dollars that we ship to foreign countries to pay for foreign oil, these funds will be paid by Americans to Americans. These funds will go to fight, not to increase, inflation and unemployment. . . .

To make absolutely certain that nothing stands in the way of achieving these goals, I will urge Congress to create an energy mobilization board which, like the War Production Board in World War II, will have the responsibility and authority to cut through the red tape, the delays, and the endless roadblocks to completing key energy projects. . . .

I'm proposing a bold conservation program to involve every state, county, and city and every average American in our energy battle. This effort will permit you to build conservation into your homes and your lives at a cost you can afford. . . .

Our nation must be fair to the poorest among us, so we will increase aid to needy Americans to cope with rising energy prices. We often think of conservation only in terms of sacrifice. In fact, it is the most painless and immediate way of rebuilding our nation's strength. Every gallon of oil each one of us saves is a new form of production. It gives us more freedom, more confidence, that much more control over our own lives. . . .

So, the solution of our energy crisis can also help us to conquer the crisis of the spirit in our country. It can rekindle our sense of unity, our confidence in the future, and give our nation and all of us individually a new sense of purpose. I do not promise you that this struggle for freedom will be easy. I do not promise a quick way out of our nation's problems, when the truth is that the only way out is an all-out effort. What I do promise you is that I will lead our fight, and I will enforce fairness in our struggle, and I will ensure honesty. And above all, I will act. We can manage the short-term shortages more effectively and we will, but there are no short-term solutions to our long-range problems. There is simply no way to avoid sacrifice.

Excerpt courtesy of the article making a similar point:
Link

By re-evaluating the history of this, we can better recognize the things we need to do now, the lost opportunities, the problems the oil companies' political power has caused.

So often, the American people fail to respond to longer term issues. They were strongly against fighting Hitler years into WWII, terrorism was unimportant before 9/11, etc.

What do we want from a president but what Carter did - to see what the nation would benefit from and work towards good policy.

He deserves the credit for trying to do the right policy, and those who prevented him deserve the blame which has led to big problems for the US.

 

[sandorski]

Ya, he was way ahead of the curve on the Energy issue.

 

[Steeplerot]

Another not so known fact was that Carter put action to those words and had the White House fitted with solar panels

Another White house pic from the 70's this time from above

Guess who took them down and plugged the WH back into the grid at our expense during the 80's and mocked environmentalists? Link



The perfectly good panels were reinstalled at Unity College in '92 and were in use for another 12 years, they are still functional but are in storage as a historic artifact now at the college.

Link

 

[sandorski]

Originally posted by: Steeplerot
Another not so known fact was that Carter put action to those words and had the White House fitted with solar panels

Another White house pic from the 70's this time from above

Guess who took them down and plugged the WH back into the grid at our expense during the 80's?

Wow, what a Hippy! 😉 😀

I remember back in the 80's seeing pics of towns/cities in Israel and being surprised by the fact that Solar Panels were everywhere on the roofs of houses, apartment buildings, and other buildings. It seems obvious to me that Solar Power has been a viable way to supply Energy for avery long time, although it would certainly mean a difference in our(North America) lifestyle. Regardless, it is not as pie-in-the-sky as we have been lead to believe.

 

[Martin]

For a politician, he'd be ahead of the curve if he said that today... It's too bad people prefer Bush's glamorous guns blazing approach, rather than something sensible and low key like Carter's.

 

[slash196]

Carter gets all sorts of crap for no reason. People who call him one of our worst presidents make me laugh.

 

[sandorski]

Originally posted by: Martin
For a politician, he'd be ahead of the curve if he said that today... It's too bad people prefer Bush's glamorous guns blazing approach, rather than something sensible and low key like Carter's.

Sadly true.

 

[Jmman]

Originally posted by: slash196
Carter gets all sorts of crap for no reason. People who call him one of our worst presidents make me laugh.

You obviously weren't around for his presidency. It wasn't pretty. Carter is an intelligent caring person but he was also an awful president......

 

[sandorski]

Originally posted by: Jmman

Originally posted by: slash196
Carter gets all sorts of crap for no reason. People who call him one of our worst presidents make me laugh.

You obviously weren't around for his presidency. It wasn't pretty. Carter is an intelligent caring person but he was also an awful president......

It wasn't pretty before Carter became President. He inherited crap, then had the Iran Hostage crisis to deal with. Both of those colour his Presidency to this day.

 

[ScottMac]

Well, laugh some more then ...

Carter gets a lot of crap because he was one of the lamest president's in history.

I respected him alot afterwards because of his dedication to the Habitat for Humanity efforts & promotion; it was a good "Put your Money Where Your Mouth Is" kind of thing.

But as preseident, interest rates were double digit ... one of my co-workers got a VA loan right when the rate peaked ... I think it was 24%(!!!) and you can't re-fi for at least two years.

He did little good in getting the embassy hostages home for over a year. The bad guys knew that all he would do is talk. I served in the Navy under Carter, we used to call him "NATO Jimmy" (NATO, in this case, stood for No Action, Talk Only). Nothing but budget cuts.

The amount of power gained from the solar panels on the White House wouldn't run the alarm system overnight. Nice show, but essentially worthless.

Certainly, some good things happened during his four years, but all-in-all, he was a dud president.

 

[Trevelyan]

Originally posted by: ScottMac
Well, laugh some more then ...

Carter gets a lot of crap because he was one of the lamest president's in history.

I respected him alot afterwards because of his dedication to the Habitat for Humanity efforts & promotion; it was a good "Put your Money Where Your Mouth Is" kind of thing.

But as preseident, interest rates were double digit ... one of my co-workers got a VA loan right when the rate peaked ... I think it was 24%(!!!) and you can't re-fi for at least two years.

He did little good in getting the embassy hostages home for over a year. The bad guys knew that all he would do is talk. I served in the Navy under Carter, we used to call him "NATO Jimmy" (NATO, in this case, stood for No Action, Talk Only). Nothing but budget cuts.

The amount of power gained from the solar panels on the White House wouldn't run the alarm system overnight. Nice show, but essentially worthless.

Certainly, some good things happened during his four years, but all-in-all, he was a dud president.

My history teacher used to say that Carter had a good heart, but was a victim of circumstance and an inability to solve certain economic problems.

 

[sandorski]

Originally posted by: ScottMac
Well, laugh some more then ...

Carter gets a lot of crap because he was one of the lamest president's in history.

I respected him alot afterwards because of his dedication to the Habitat for Humanity efforts & promotion; it was a good "Put your Money Where Your Mouth Is" kind of thing.

But as preseident, interest rates were double digit ... one of my co-workers got a VA loan right when the rate peaked ... I think it was 24%(!!!) and you can't re-fi for at least two years.

He did little good in getting the embassy hostages home for over a year. The bad guys knew that all he would do is talk. I served in the Navy under Carter, we used to call him "NATO Jimmy" (NATO, in this case, stood for No Action, Talk Only). Nothing but budget cuts.

The amount of power gained from the solar panels on the White House wouldn't run the alarm system overnight. Nice show, but essentially worthless.

Certainly, some good things happened during his four years, but all-in-all, he was a dud president.

Well you see, that just shows the kind of bad rap he has received. He did do more than talk, but the military plan failed. Original link
------------------------------------------------------------
Rescue Attempts

Rejecting the Iranian demands, Carter approved an ill-fated secret rescue mission, Operation Eagle Claw. On the night of April 24, 1980, as the first part of the operation, a number of C-130 transport airplanes rendezvoused with eight RH-53 helicopters at an airstrip in the Great Salt Desert of Eastern Iran, near Tabas. Two helicopters broke down in a sandstorm and a third one was damaged on landing. The mission was aborted, but as the aircraft took off again one helicopter clipped a C-130 and crashed, killing eight U.S. servicemen and injuring more than four. In Iran, Khomeini's prestige skyrocketed as he credited divine intervention on behalf of Islam for the mission's failure.[17]

A second rescue attempt was planned using highly modified YMC-130H Hercules aircraft. Outfitted with rocket thrusters fore and aft to allow an extremely short landing and take-off in a soccer stadium, three aircraft were modified under a rushed super-secret program known as Credible Sport. One aircraft crashed during a demonstration at Duke Field, Florida (Eglin Air Force Base Auxiliary Field 3) on October 29, 1980 when the landing braking rockets were fired too soon causing a hard touchdown that tore off the starboard wing and started a fire. All on board survived. The impending change in the White House led to an abandonment of this project. The two surviving airframes were returned to regular duty with the rocket packages removed. One [4] is now on display at the Museum of Aviation located next to Robins Air Force Base, Georgia.

----------------------------------------------------------

Interest Rates were an ongoing Economic Issue directly caused by Inflation, but started years before during the OPEC Oil Embargo. He made many positive decisions that helped fix the Economic situation.

 

[kage69]

Carter: a good guy who got the job at a bad time. He had his share of fvckups, but he's no Bush or Hoover.

And hey, he made it legal for Americans to brew their own beer!

 

[cwjerome]

Originally posted by: kage69
And hey, he made it legal for Americans to brew their own beer!

:thumbsup:

Carter's heart was much bigger than his brain... this was obviously the wisest decision of his presidency! :beer:

 

[Summitdrinker]

yep interest rates were high with Jimmy, but inflation was high( it was high world wide) beacuase oil prices were high and third world nations defaulted on there loans etc

how can you have low interest rates with high inflation? set in more spend inflation and stress out the banking system you say????????????

also money being borrowed was coming from overseas, not american money, jimmy didn't like that, he hurt the economy in the short for the better of the long run. he wanted americans to save money so it could be borrowed later by americans.
but you know how americans are : me now

 

[XZeroII]

The speech sounds more 'appeasing' than anything else. Just like pretty much everything that politicians say.

 

[sandorski]

Originally posted by: XZeroII
The speech sounds more 'appeasing' than anything else. Just like pretty much everything that politicians say.

"Appeasing'?

 

[Jmman]

Actually Carter's presidency wasn't all bad. We had double digit inflation, interest rates, and employment at 7.5%, but we also had Billy beer.....:laugh:

 

[Summitdrinker]

in the late 70's the state of MN, governed the interest rates on home sales, they set it low. too low, the result: banks quit giving out loans, the next result: law was repealled

 

[Craig234]

Inflation was terrible under Carter; but a question is, did his policies harm or help the situation? He inherited the mess after Nixon and the oil embargo which caused big problems with the global economy.

It's unclear what he could have done much better on Iran - his allowing the country to stop being ruled by a US tyrant was a step in the right direction, though the length of time it had been allowed to go on meant that it was a radical group who took power and led the revolution when the Shah was in ill health.

But was Carter to invade Iran or threaten to nuke them? The hostages eventually got home safely, a good result that took some courage. We can't be sure what Reagan's camp was up to in sabotaging the negotiations, the way Nixon sabotaged the 1968 Viet Nam negotiations to help him win, but we know the Reagan crowd made secret deals with Iran later.

No reason to think they were above offering incentives for refusing to release the hostages, when they were willing to sell thousands of missiles to Iran to trade for hostages later.

As for the negative perception of Carter not being 'stronger' with Iran, funny how the same crowd is quiet about Reagan losing 249 Marines to a foolish Lebanon invasion and the way Reagan turned tail and ran out as soon as it happened, much worse than the Iran hostage situation. Carter lacked many good options.

The summary by the Navy guy above is filled with errors, as well. I actually wish Carter had cut the military budget more, but by the end of the presidency, spending was increasing a lot.

We'd have had all kinds of benefits had his energy policies been followed, from less need to ally with Saddam and help him use WMD in his war with Iran, to less corruption from the oil companies' huge profits in our political system, to helping with global warming and much more.

 

[Summitdrinker]

Carter: the real cold war president

 

[Isla]

I have always loved Jimmy Carter... he was honest. He was real. I liked Clinton but was disappointed by him.... he could have easily have said "Hell yeah I inhaled" or "Yes, I had sex with that intern, and the point is????" but he didn't. 🙁 Jimmy had the courage to speak the truth, and he got hung out to dry for it.

As far as 'moral' presidents go, he the only one I would say is truly moral in my time so far.

 

[Jhhnn]

Carter's problems were inherited, not of his own making. Inflation? that happens when wage and price controls are lifted, having been put in place under Nixon/Ford... and when the price of petroleum skyrockets, as it did when opec was formed. High interest rates? An attempt to control inflation- blame the Federal reserve, not Carter... Hostage crisis? the result of 20 years of American support for the Shah... It's not like Jimmy poked 'em in the eye with a stick... The only reason that the Iranians held the ghostages as long as they did was as a favor to the Reaganites, who began delivering the military equipment that Carter had witheld shortly after their inaugural... The whole Bert Lance corruption bit? A jury acquitted Bert in less than an hour- there was no case against him, only accusations...

But Ronnie told everybody what they wanted to hear, whether it was the truth or not... trash-talking Iran, even as he gave 'em what they wanted, sweet-talking America's rednecks, even as he undercut their future prosperity and economic position with his spend and don't tax policy... talked about freedom and democracy even as he illegally financed the contras and Salvadoran death squads... waved America's penis at the Soviets, even as they were forcing him into nuclear arms reductions...

Jimmy Carter was way too decent a guy to be President at a time when America wanted an ideologue to soothe the hurt of Vietnam... and the economic pain of explosive outsourcing... tell 'em that they were, indeed, the mightiest nation on earth...

 

[Steeplerot]

Tinfoil time:

Did Bush's CIA connected daddy conspire with the Iranian's to stab Carter in the back and delay the hostage releases?




The October Surprise Conspiracy was an alleged plot that claimed representatives of the 1980 Ronald Reagan presidential campaign had conspired with Islamic Republic of Iran to delay the release of 52 Americans held hostage in Tehran until after the 1980 U.S. Presidential election. In exchange for their cooperation, the United States would supply weapons to Iran as well as unfreeze Iran's monetary assets being held by the US government.

Jimmy Carter had been attempting to deal with the Iran hostage crisis and the hostile regime of the Ayatollah Khomeini for nearly a year. Those who assert that a deal was made allege that certain Republicans with CIA connections, including George H. W. Bush, arranged to have the hostages held through October, until Reagan could defeat Carter in early November, and then be released, thereby preventing an ?October surprise? from the Carter administration in which the hostages would be released shortly before the election. The hostages were released the day of Reagan's inauguration, twenty minutes after his inaugural address.

After 12 years of news reports looking into the alleged conspiracy, both houses of the US Congress held separate inquiries into the issue, and journalists from sources such as Newsweek and The New Republic looked into the charges. Both Congressional inquires, as well as the majority of investigative reports, found the evidence to be insufficient.

Link

You never know, those neocons are something else, they sure loved the Iranians money during the Iran-Contra affair.

 

[charrison]

I think steeplerot will find this of interest...

A 9KW solar system was installed on whitehouse grounds in 2003. Probably a far larger system than what carter had installed.

linkage