The Jimmy Carter comparison

Baby boomer conservatives are fond of comparing the Obama campaign to the 1976 insurgency of Jimmy Carter, at that time the former governor of Georgia. While different in many ways, there are some obvious comparisons, particularly in terms of the lack of foreign policy or Washington beltway experience. It somewhat falls on deaf ears, because a large chuck of Obama's people either weren't born yet, or were too young to remember the Carter presidency.

Jimmy Carter, of course, went on to to become one of the worst presidents of the 20th century, losing Iran to the terrorists, losing the Panama Canal, pursuing such a flimsy economic policy that interest rates shot up to 22% and of course, the worst gasoline shortages in history.

Through all this, ol' Jimmy, the Georgia peanut farmer, preached to us on television, sitting there in his cardigan sweater. He diagnosed the problem as a "national malaise." He did not diagnose it correctly as his own ineffectual leadership. He was too busy scheduling the White House tennis courts and carrying his own baggage on and off Air Force One, to be the Leader of the Free World.

There is little to suggest that Obama would be much better a president. The purpose of the comparison, of course, is to show how inexperience and naivete play out in the White House. His flubs on negotiating with terrorists, cutting and running in Iraq, and spouting the same old liberal bromides for the economy that Carter failed with, don't offer much hope.

Obama is a gifted orator with a teleprompter in front of him. He can paint the broad brush strokes that lead to thunderous applause from big crowds in arenas. The minutiae and details of policy trip him up. In debates with no script, the real Obama comes out. Nothing beats "been there, done that" when it comes to the presidency, and Obama has the thinnest resume of any recent presidential contender.

The other part of the Carter comparison, of course, was that four disasterous years of Carter led to Ronald Reagan. The GOP united and pulled its act together, to give the nation eight of the best years in the 20th century.

McCain won't do that, but I'll bet four years of Obama will.