We Are Still Suffering Under Jimmy Carter’s Incompetent Legacy

Even those who support President Trump’s policies will concede that he is not the nicest guy in the world – at least his public persona. Unfortunately, his angry, pugnacious, egotistical personality has overshadowed his many accomplishments.

What would it be like to have a president with a warm and wonderful personality but terrible policies? We do not have to wonder. We had one. President Jimmy Carter was a gentle, kindly spirit. In his long post-presidency, he dedicated himself to charity and other good works.

Unfortunately, he was also a dangerously incompetent president. We are paying a very high price for his disastrous Middle East policy even today. Rather than support America’s strong ally, the Shah of Iran back in 1979, Carter decided to essentially green-light his downfall. Carter was not allied to the Islamic extremists who took over. But he just did nothing to stop it as he could have and should have.

At the time, Iran was a strong ally of the United States. Lebanon and other Arab nations were relatively peaceful – international tourist meccas. The mess we see today—all those terrorist attacks and the violent regional instability of the past 47 years—grew directly out of the fall of Iran. The Persian state became the rotten apple in the Middle East barrel.

The fall of Iran was a primary reason we had the 1970s oil crisis. In 1979, following the revolution, Iranian oil production plummeted. Oil prices skyrocketed from about fifteen dollars per barrel to nearly forty dollars. Americans faced long gas lines stretching for blocks, shortages at the pump, and fears of outright rationing. The economic shock rippled through the entire world economy and exposed the fragility of American energy dependence.

In many ways, the oil crises we have experienced over and over since 1979 are all founded on Carter’s bad decision regarding the Shah and the 3000-year-old Peacock Throne.

Carter also presided over runaway inflation. By 1980, inflation hit 13.5 percent. Combined with high unemployment, the misery index reached record levels. American families watched their savings erode as prices for food, fuel, and housing climbed relentlessly. Businesses struggled under punishing interest rates that climbed above 20 percent. Carter’s economic policies and loose fiscal approach fueled this stagflation that plagued the nation for years.

But the disasters do not stop there. Carter’s perceived weakness invited Soviet aggression. The Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in 1979. His response was anemic—an Olympic boycott that accomplished little and a grain embargo that hurt American farmers more than it hurt Moscow. He pushed through the Panama Canal treaties, handing over a vital strategic waterway to Panama in what many saw as a unilateral giveaway that weakened American influence in the hemisphere.

His energy policies created a new Department of Energy but delivered little relief and added layers of bureaucracy. In his infamous “malaise” speech, Carter lectured Americans on a crisis of confidence rather than offering strong leadership. The Iranian hostage crisis dragged on for 444 days, with 52 Americans held captive while a botched rescue attempt ended in tragedy and national humiliation.

Arguably, Carter was the first left-wing globalist President, who saw accommodation and appeasement as the bedrock of his policies. Perhaps it was a desire to be liked that drove both his personality and his policies. He did not exert strong leadership, and America has been worse off as a consequence.

We are still living with the consequences of Carter’s possibly well-intentioned but disastrous policies. The Middle East remains a hotbed of instability spawned by the Iranian theocracy. Economic lessons from his era remind us of the dangers of weak incompetent leadership. Personality may win friends, but sound policy secures the future. Carter proved that a nice guy President can do immense damage to the nation he leads.

So, there ‘tis.