Editor's note: Over this past weekend, after a week or so of wire columns stigmatizing the Trump presidency as the "worst in American history," we re-published an editorial from the George W. Bush administration. For that president was called the worst in history as he left office, too.
And our editorial of a dozen years ago noted that the perspective of time is always needed before ranking administrations this way, and suggested that historians, of all people, should give it a few years before deciding on a grade.
Then on Monday, a friend called: Hey guys, didn't the newsroom of this very Arkansas Democrat-Gazette once score a national scoop along these lines? That is, didn't Frank Lockwood once get Jimmy Carter on tape accusing Bush II of being the worst in history? And didn't Jimmy Carter claim his comments were "misinterpreted"--until the tape appeared?
By jingos, it's true! We almost forgot about it, which is to say we completely forgot about it until you reminded us. To jog the memory of Gentle Reader, we re-publish another editorial today, this one from May 23, 2007, edited only for space. Enjoy.--eds
Just when you thought Jimmy Carter was finally going to stick with a course, he backtracks. How Carteresque. It brings back the time he watched and watched and watched while Iranians took Americans hostage. Months passed. Then more months. And when he did choose to respond militarily, it was with an effort so minimal it was bound to prove disastrous.
Which is just the kind of response you'd expect from a Jimmy Carter: halfway. Or rather quarterway. With failure sure to follow. At least the man is consistent.
In case you missed it, the folks on the other side of the newsroom--the news side here at the Democrat-Gazette is separated from us opinionaters by an invisible but cast-iron wall--found itself smack dab in the middle of a national scoop the other day. It seems Mr. Carter had given a phone interview to our Frank Lockwood--an interview in which he said the current administration was "the worst in history," at least in terms of influencing world opinion.
When we read that snippet Saturday morning, we had to smile. It sounded so familiar. Has there ever been any American administration since George Washington's that hasn't been called the worst in history?
One year it's an "historian" in Rolling Stone rating George W. Bush as the worst president in American history. And you know how all the historians keep up with the goings-on in Rolling Stone. Some of us can remember how Ronald Reagan was the worst president in history, and before that, To Err Is Truman.
A president named Lincoln suspended habeas corpus, held enemy combatants without trial, and generally provoked his opponents into claiming he was acting outside the Constitution. (Sound familiar?) FDR is still vilified today for selling out to Stalin at Yalta, not to mention luring the Japanese into attacking us at Pearl Harbor. Was he the all-time worst president?
Or was it the one who approved John Jay's unpopular treaty with our mortal enemy, Perfidious Albion? What was that fellow's name again--Washington?
All presidents have their moments, good and bad. We even know some folks who'll put in a good word for Richard Nixon.
George W. Bush's administration the worst in history? Compared to what? James Buchanan's? Instead of preventing the Civil War, that blundering incompetent invited it. George W. worse than the aforementioned Mr. Nixon? Worse than Harding, Hoover, either of the Harrisons, or Bill Clinton et ux?
Puh-leese, Mr. Carter. Unless you're clairvoyant--and judging from your own presidential legacy you ain't--it's impossible to know what the world will look like when George W. Bush steps aside in 2009. A lot depends on Iraq. If it shows some signs of stability, how will this administration be viewed then? If the opening up of North Korea leads to real change in that spoke of the Axis of Evil, what will be said of Bush II? If Iran's mullahs find themselves surrounded by increasingly democratic governments, and fighting college students from within, and if the American economy continues to roar, with a Dow above 14,000, with unemployment scraping 3 percent, and if gasoline prices ever fall under $3 a gallon again . . . .
Well, you can see how tricky it is to judge a presidency while in the middle of it without the benefit of the perspective that the passage of time lends. Ask us again about whether George W. Bush is the worst president in history, but give us 20 years to get back to you.
EVEN STRANGER, this was Jimmy Carter calling out another administration. Jimmy Carter! We do have some time and perspective when it comes to weighing his administration. The only problem would be where to start counting the disasters.
The economy? As P.J. O'Rourke said, in the 1970s inflation was so bad that nickels cost 50 cents. Remember malaise? Remember gas lines? Remember stagflation? Remember disco and leisure suits? Okay, we can't blame those last two on Jimmy Carter. But they do symbolize the whole misdirected era.
Remember America's being in retreat across the globe, while a president told us to get used to it? Those were the Carter Years, and it embarrasses just to think about them. Although it does give us another reason to thank God for Ronald Reagan--and the general American refusal to believe we're washed up and there's nothing to be done about it.
Talk about being ineffectual, Jimmy Carter couldn't even keep up his offensive against the current occupant of the Oval Office--even for a couple of days. Which didn't surprise. After speaking to this newspaper, he went on television soon after to say his comments were "careless or misinterpreted."
Well, which is it, Mr. Carter? Were the comments "careless," by which we would infer this whole tempest in a teaspoon was your fault, or were the comments "misinterpreted," which we would take as your blaming the paper for your own ill-considered remarks?
Isn't that just like Jimmy Carter? Even when the guy is crawfishing, he's a jellyfish.