Mark Schmitt writes up a rousing cry to replace Jimmy Carter with George W. Bush in the pantheon of hapless, incompetent, Presidents. As he notes, what happened under Jimmy ain't nothing compared to what's gone down under George -- the numbers alone should consign Bush to political pariah status. And Mark, as he so often does, gets it right. If the world were rational, Bush would join the pantheon of the disgraced. But it isn't. And what we disdain Carter for isn't rational either.
Carter isn't maligned because of the economic indicators and foreign policy misadventures he presided over; his failures were communicative, narrative. Bush stays afloat on Iraq -- though he's rapidly sinking -- by making it a heroic battle, wherein withdrawal and recognition of our casualties equals defeat. So long as he staves off the "D" word and uses it to tar Democrats, he can keep portraying this as a respectable, if costly, fight, not a misguided and losing act of hubris.
Carter, conversely, presided over a loss. We lost in Iran. Our helicopters went down and America was humbled. And after they went down, Carter, because he's responsible, didn't try to mount an invasion or carpetbomb Tehran, he just swallowed the humiliation and returned to diplomacy. In the end, the hostages survived. I doubt they'd have been so lucky under Bush.
American Presidents cannot admit defeat. Pain or failure must be incorporated into a larger narrative of triumph or resiliency. The current deficit is the fault of 9/11, the result of a brave country reemerging into the world to hunt down evildoers and spread Good Things. Carter's deficit was, well, partially our fault, and in any case up to us to change. The Bush deficit requires no sacrifice whatsoever -- it even comes with tax cuts. It's a paper deficit, his wars are TV wars. With Carter, our failures abroad came home in oil prices and our budgetary problems caused stagflation. Americans got hurt, and they don't like to be hurt. Right now, they're just bystanders in a surprisingly fastpaced play -- even though the plot is rapidly becoming a downer, they've no reason to call for the curtain. That won't last forever, but its' proved surprisingly resilient right now.
Carter lost because he was responsible, honest, realistic. He didn't tell the American people what wasn't true, and he didn't protect them from psychic and economic pain. Bush, if nothing else, has spent his presidency insulating Americans from his decisions. His bill, of course, will eventually come due. The only question is, does reality hit in the next three years, or does the country implode under his successor?
