[Hagakure_Leofman]

Thanks for that post mos6507

I was aware of Carter's position, but hadn't seen that address.

[hardtootell]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Pretorian', 'W')hite house had solar panels on? wow

[DomusAlbion]

Yes, I remember this speech well. It's too bad the Carter was such an ineffective president. Too thoughtful and indecisive; not given to action.

[BigTex]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Pretorian', 'W')hite house had solar panels on? wow

[PrairieMule]

I found this speech a few months ago. Most folks are probably aware of it . It brings up a lot of interesting things that are applicable to 2008.


http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/carter/fil ... risis.html

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '[')i]Every act of energy conservation like this is more than just common sense -- I tell you it is an act of patriotism.

[Plantagenet]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('PrairieMule', 'I') found this speech a few months ago. Most folks are probably aware of it . It brings up a lot of interesting things that are applicable to 2008.


http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/carter/fil ... risis.html

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '[')i]Every act of energy conservation like this is more than just common sense -- I tell you it is an act of patriotism.

[hironegro]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Plantagenet', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('PrairieMule', 'I') found this speech a few months ago. Most folks are probably aware of it . It brings up a lot of interesting things that are applicable to 2008.


http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/carter/fil ... risis.html

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '[')i]Every act of energy conservation like this is more than just common sense -- I tell you it is an act of patriotism.

[strider3700]

Carter told the truth. It cost him his job and he became a joke to the vast majority of people.

In the end history is proving him right but he's still vilified.

I'm a doomer not because we couldn't come up with solutions but because we'll laugh and bitch about change until it's too late.

It's probably already too late and I bet Carter knows that.

[Graeme]

Jimmy Carter -- the peak oil president

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'T')he timing is extraordinarily appropriate, and not just because energy is the campaign issue of the week. The wave of Republican mockery currently assaulting Barack Obama's recommendation that Americans properly inflate their tires flows squarely within the tradition of scorn and derision that conservatives have heaped on Carter for decades -- in part because of his call for conservation and sacrifice in 1977.

But the speech holds up pretty darn well today, even as right-wing flailing increasingly manifests itself, to borrow a slam made by Obama against his critics on Tuesday, as risibly "ignorant." I particularly liked the following passage, if only because of its prescience.

The Rush Limbaugh wing of the Republican Party, happily smacking their lips as they've chowed down on Jimmy Carter's legacy for almost three decades, would have us believe that the threats of climate change and peak oil do not exist. To which point, again, one can think of no better response than Barack Obama's.

"I don't understand it ... It's like these guys take pride in being ignorant."

[mos6507]

Jimmy was not a peak oil president. He jumped the gun and framed the debate in terms of oil "running out" in 1977. It wasn't. Only domestic oil was. North Sea was yet to hit the scene. We should have still listened to him, but only in retrospect does he look like a genius. In the 90s that speech looked like a joke.

If you want a real peak oil speech from an elected official, watch one of Roscoe Bartlett's many presentations.

[dinopello]

What Jimmy Said

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'T')he world has not prepared for the future. During the 1950s, people used twice as much oil as during the 1940s. During the 1960s, we used twice as much as during the 1950s. And in each of those decades, more oil was consumed than in all of mankind's previous history.

World consumption of oil is still going up. If it were possible to keep it rising during the 1970s and 1980s by 5 percent a year as it has in the past, we could use up all the proven reserves of oil in the entire world by the end of the next decade.

[Petrodollar]

...and here's why future historians are likely to be far kinder to Carter than all subsequent US presidents...

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'W')e are grossly wasting our energy resources … as though their supply was infinite. We must even face the prospect of changing our basic ways of living. This change will either be made on our own initiative in a planned and rational way, or forced on us with chaos and suffering by the inexorable laws of nature.

— Jimmy Carter's Address for the 1976 Democratic Presidential Nomination, December 12, 1976

[dunewalker]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Petrodollar', '
')Bottomline: I do not envy the arduous and painful journey that awaits the next US president (or any major political leader for that matter)

[Plantagenet]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Petrodollar', ' ')Carter ...

[ColossalContrarian]

I wasn't born yet so I've read a little about his presidency but I see him almost as an oracle instead of a terrible president. Maybe he was a terrible president but in retrospect, 30 years or so later, he seemed to see things on a macro scale and is one of America's best aids in averting geopolitical disasters at the current moment.
What am I missing?

[Ludi]

He wore a cardigan on TV as President.

[dinopello]

The standard Republican attack at the time was Democrats are weak on Defense and wimpy. The Iran hostage crisis, the failed rescue attempt, seemed to drive that home (even though it had little to do with Defense). The economic situation was similar to now, only with high interest rates so he had that against him too. My Dad, a conservative, who didn't vote for Carter, I think respected him at first for his honesty and morality and responded to his call to conservation. But, the Iran thing and the constant drone from the Republicans that Carter was destroying the military turned him. And, then Ronnie came in and it was morning in America.

[eastbay]

He was really mean to the secret service detail and that's a VERY low-life scummy thing to do to those pledged to die for you.

Other than that there is no reason to get on his case. He was an otherwise Great President. He had plenty of opportunities to start a war, and both liberals and conservatives were clamoring for him get a few going somewhere.... anywhere... but he held his peaceful ground and started no wars. That was Great!
He didn't cheat on his wife either. He didn't lie either.

[wisconsin_cur]

He was left to hold the hot potato when the music ran out and the cost came due on the economic policies of the decade prior.

Being the short-term thinkers that we are, he got the blame for what he did not do and did not get the credit for what he did do (appoint Volker as Fed Chief).

Another reminder of the lesson that it is better to be lucky than good.

[Sixstrings]

Carter was before my time. But from what I've read, he was perceived as (1) weak, and (2) he didn't work well with his own Democratic congress. He was certainly way ahead of his time on energy issues. And, he famously turned down the White House thermostat and wore sweaters. Also put solar panels on the roof, and let Willie Nelson smoke pot on the Truman balcony (which is pretty darn cool).

All in all, I think what ultimately sunk him was the hostage crisis and the "malaise speech." Americans can't tolerate weakness, anything but that, and throw in a depressing doomer speech and that's all she wrote.