Jimmy Carter Annoyed the Right People

“He annoyed the right people.”

This anonymous tribute to Jimmy Carter was buried in the mounds of commentary following Carter’s death on December 29th. As the world knows, he slipped into eternity in the gap between his 100th birthday and the looming inauguration of Donald Trump. The prospect of Donald Trump presiding over his funeral may have convinced his stubborn body and soul to get on with the transition.

Conventional wisdom is always conventional but seldom wise. In this case, the conventional view is that his presidency was a failure and that his post-presidency was quite noble. Half right, as his post-presidential grace, dignity, and tireless work for peace are historically peerless. Even – especially – after leaving the White House, he “annoyed the right people.”

But the dismal view of his presidency has been inaccurate and unfair. Threads of a fairer assessment run through the recollections and reconsiderations offered on his death.

Readers can find thorough recounting of his remarkable life elsewhere. I offer perspective, not biography, although the arc can be scribed simply enough.

Poor boy excelled, attended Naval Academy, rose to Navy Lieutenant, retired, returned to peanut farming, entered politics, served Georgia as State Senator and Governor, elected president in 1976 against long odds, defeated by Ronald Reagan in 1980, returned to his modest home in Plains, Georgia, established the Carter Center, built houses and performed other good works, here and abroad, awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, and navigated a 77-year marriage to Rosalynn, a feat of durable love he called his “greatest life accomplishment.”

His presidency, as often the case with presidencies, was plagued by factors not of his making or fully within his control. Inflation, long lines at gas stations and the Iran hostage affair were unfairly placed at his feet. As with presidents Obama and Biden, Carter inherited the slop left by Republican predecessors. The 1981 Iran hostage release was deviously manipulated to make Carter the goat and Reagan the hero.

On the positive side of the ledger, Carter’s negotiation of the Camp David Accords and the subsequent Egypt-Israel peace treaty are universally praised. Also noteworthy is the establishment of Departments of Education and Energy and his prescient, yet often thwarted, commitment to energy conservation and investment in energy alternatives. He negotiated SALT II, a nuclear arms reduction agreement, with Leonid Brezhnev.

Yes, Carter “annoyed the right people” and that partially led to his 1980 defeat. “Annoying the right people” means annoying those who most need to be annoyed. But annoying the people who most need it can quickly turn on a guy. Strategically, Carter annoyed the wrong people in that some who needed annoyance were establishment Democrats who therefore sabotaged his political ambitions.

On the largest scale, he annoyed the American people when, in a 1979 speech, he spoke of a national malaise, a growing disrespect for the structures of democracy and a turn toward “. . . worship of self-indulgence and consumption.”

He promised to tell the truth, but facing the truth can set you free or piss you off. Pissed-off Americans elected Ronald Reagan in a landslide, because he told them what they wanted to hear rather than what they needed to hear. And we’ve never been the same.

While Clinton and Obama were reasonable centrists (one quite more dignified than the other), they too were carried along in the same steady, fetid stream of consumerism. Since 1980, there has not been a crisis we couldn’t shop our way out of. Carter was the first – and only, to my knowledge – president who dared say that unfettered growth was not beneficial to a nation or world with declining resources and increasing populations.

Carter recognized looming climate change and championed conservation, development of solar energy and electric cars at a time when gas-guzzling muscle cars were all the rage. I recall bumper stickers in those years that bragged about massive high power, low mileage cars.

As an atheist, I hesitate to elaborate on Carters’s deep Christian faith, but my faithlessness aside, Jimmy Carter exemplified Christian teachings throughout his life. He was also exemplary in that he neither shuttered his faith from view nor imposed his faith on others. In contrast with today’s charlatans, who profess their devotion from Washington’s corridors of power, Carter honored the constitutional separation of his church from his responsibilities as head of state.

His personal example was instructive. Beginning with walking to his inauguration down Pennsylvania Avenue with Rosalynn and daughter Amy, he pressed to de-imperialize the presidency. He insisted on carrying his own luggage and “annoyed the right people” by wearing a simple cardigan sweater during a fireside chat during which he suggested that people turn down their thermostats. Ever since, Republicans, awash in oil and gas lucre, have turned up the heat, literally and figuratively.

The 1980 presidential election was a turning point in American history. Jimmy Carter told us the truth, but we didn’t want to hear it. Instead we elected a mediocre actor who made people feel good by telling us that we were exceptional; a shining city on a hill.

Our country and the world would be in a better place had Jimmy Carter been reelected in 1980. It is symbolically poignant that his last political act was to vote for Kamala Harris.

He never gave up on the possibilities for peace and justice in our country and the world.

John Lewis the recently departed Congressman and civil rights leader said, “Get in good trouble, necessary trouble, and help redeem the soul of America.”

To Jimmy Carter, that required annoying the right people – and he did.

His modesty, courage, prescience and honesty should place him among our greatest presidents. That he is not remembered that way is our failing, not his.

His gravestone should read, “Here lies a good, good man.”