Carter and Bush not so different after all

[question everything]

chicagotribune.com

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/chi-oped0531chapmanmay31,1,7301278.column?coll=chi-news-col

Commentary

Carter and Bush not so different after all
Steve Chapman


May 31, 2007


(snip)

Carter presided over a country wracked by economic chaos, violence, political disarray and a sense of national decline. Bush does as well -- though this time, the country is Iraq rather than the United States. Carter stood helpless as Iran took Americans hostage at our embassy in Tehran. Bush has stood helpless while Iran pursues the means to hold its neighbors hostage with nuclear weapons.

Carter was responsible for a military debacle, the 1980 effort to rescue our Iran hostages, that killed eight American service personnel. Bush is responsible for a military debacle, the occupation of Iraq, that has killed more than 3,300 American service personnel. Under Carter, Islamic insurgents in Afghanistan bled the Soviet military. Under Bush, Islamic insurgents in Afghanistan bleed the U.S. military.

Carter, as an ex-president, helped negotiate a nuclear deal with North Korea that the other side failed to live up to. Bush negotiated a nuclear deal with North Korea that the other side has failed to live up to. Carter acquired a reputation as stubborn, self-righteous and unwilling to listen to anyone outside his inner circle. Notice a pattern here? Both men had life-altering religious experiences as adults and profited from the support of evangelicals.

Both campaigned in favor of a more modest foreign policy. Bush's 2000 declaration that we should be "a humble nation" echoed what Carter said in 1976: "A strong nation, like a strong person, can afford to be gentle, firm, thoughtful and restrained." Once in office, though, their restraint abated. In its place emerged a messianic dream of remaking the world in our image. The former thought we could spread democracy and human rights by moral suasion. The latter thought we could spread democracy and human rights by invasion. They were surprised by the world's resistance to reform.

(snip)

The two illustrate the dangers of taking a reasonable approach too far. The 39th president was overly eager to negotiate and thus let other countries get away with actions that harmed our interests. The 43rd president is overly reluctant to negotiate and thus lets other nations get away with actions that harm our interests. Both found that their policies in the Persian Gulf had the unintended consequence of inflaming Islamic extremism. Both found their trust in Russian leaders to be unwarranted. Both caused their parties to lose control of at least one house of Congress. The Bush experience proves that philosopher George Santayana was too optimistic. Even those who remember the past are condemned to repeat it.

[Catch22Dem]

1. Carter = Human Being -------- Bush = Soulless Fuck

Not seeing the similarities there.

[emilyg]

2. Yes. No comparison.

[whistle]

3. Carter did not create the economic chaos, Nixon and Ford did it

....Nixon by extending the Vietnam War for another six years beyond his promise to end it, wasting hundreds of billions of dollars and causing 35,000 more Americans to die needlessly, while Ford ended the Vietnam War to his credit, true republican do nothing that he was, he had no plan or program to move the economy back into a peace post-war recovery, so the economy floundered and started the stagflation which Jimmy Carter then inherited. Now Carter was also challenged with the job of healing a divided nation over the war and also Richard Nixon's forced resignation and then his pardon by Ford. Jimmy Carter was and is a decent honest man, something quit apart from anything George W. Bush could ever be or ever know.

[Frustratedlady]

4. How ridiculous.

Carter is a caring individual. No comparison whatsoever to The Kid.

[dennis4868]

5. how can any human being....

in their right mind compare the Carter administration to the Bush crime family....under Bush we have death and desruction everywhere, secret government, billions missing from the treasury, completely ignoring global warming, using the DOJ for political gain, etc, etc. etc....Carter may have been a one term president but he did not wreck havok on the world that will take decades to repair...