Every Obama speech is Carter's "malaise" speech to media conservatives
September 01, 2010 11:49 pm ET by Mike Burns
In commentary on President Obama's speeches, conservative media have apparently concluded that references to Jimmy Carter's "malaise" speech are a handy tool to use, no matter the topic at hand. For instance:
Obama's August 31 address on Iraq
- On the August 31 edition of Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor, Fox News contributor Ralph Peters said that when he "listened to" Obama's speech on the end of combat operations in Iraq, "two ghosts appeared. One was the Jimmy Carter malaise speech. The other - the other ghost was Richard Nixon's Vietnamization speeches." (Accessed via Nexis)
Obama's June 15 Oval Office speech on the BP oil spill
- On the June 16, 2010 edition of his Fox News show, Sean Hannity said of Obama's first Oval Office address: "You know -- but what I got out of last night besides I think probably the worst Oval Office address in history or at least in close competition to Carter's malaise speech, it seems to me the Obama so-called magic is gone, the rhetoric is old and stale. The rhetorical tricks are somewhat old and boring and tiresome. You know people aren't fainting any more, Michelle." (Accessed via Nexis)
- During the June 16 edition of his radio show, Rush Limbaugh stated that Carter's speech "is almost verbatim what Obama said last night, almost the exact same speech." Limbaugh added, "I tell you, it's second term of Jimmy Carter! And it's liberalism 100% through and through."
- In a June 15 RedState post titled "Barack Obama Embraces His Inner Jimmy Carter," Erick Erickson wrote, "Whatever the reason, Barack Obama gave the most depressing Oval Office speech since Jimmy Carter's malaise speech. He didn't just embrace defeat, he wore it on his suit as a substitute for an argyle sweater."
Obama's June 2 speech on the economy at Carnegie Mellon
- In a June 4 article on American Thinker, Ed Lasky wrote that "President Obama's speech at Carnegie Mellon University is rightfully being compared to Jimmy Carter's notorious 'malaise' speech," adding, "All that was missing was the cardigan sweater."
- In a June 13 editorial headlined "Malaise at Mellon," IBD wrote, "It might as well have been President Carter addressing the audience of students and faculty at Pittsburgh's Carnegie Mellon University. Instead it was President Obama who spoke of our dependence on fossil fuels and blamed everybody and everything, except for a lack of presidential leadership, for our current situation." The editorial concluded by stating, "If the students at Mellon were anxious, they had reason to be. We have labeled Jimmy Carter our worst ex-president. He may soon have a rival for that title."
- A June 8 FoxNews.com column stated: "The apt comparison between Obama's speech on the economy and Carter's is that "a crisis of confidence" persists today. There is the same anxiety that in Barack Obama we have another Jimmy Carter--a self-righteous ideologue who is in over his head, championing policies that are not only unpopular but also destructive."
Obama's January 20 Inaugural Address
- In a January 23, 2009 Human Events piece, conservative activist Michael Reagan claimed that "You can hear echoes of that malaise speech in Obama's inaugural address when he said, 'These are the indicators of crisis, subject to data and statistics. Less measurable but no less profound is a sapping of confidence across our land -- a nagging fear that America's decline is inevitable, and that the next generation must lower its sights.'"
I'd take that "put down" any day.
Jimmy Carter, whatever his presidential failings, is not only decent and moral, but is also very intelligent, honest, and hard-working. He had legitimate experience in business, politics, and the military. How does this IBD writer, knowing full well that G.W. Bush is a complete zero in comparison, write a sentence like that with a straight face?
Probably the most underestimated and undervalued President in U.S. history, brought down by Republican "black ops" negotiations with Iran. What is it they say about people getting the politicians they deserve?
Not entirely accurate, tho' the point is still taken... the boat he skippered for his brief time in command was non-nuclear, but he was a graduate of the Navy's Nuclear Power School, as well as Annapolis of course.
I think some of the brighter wingnuts know that, and they try extra hard to denigrate Carter, Michael Medved, for example, always puts a little more venom into it when he refers to Carter as "worthless" or a "failure".
The dopier wingnuts ( Hannity, for example), are simply too hypnotized by style over substance to know any better. I think Hannity actually hinestly believes that St Ronnie was more intelligent than Carter.
ps: I love mentioning to my conservative friends that my first presidential vote was cast for Carter, so I did my part in trying to avoid the disaster of Reagan. They really go nuts about that.
He took severe and austere steps to control the already burgeoning deficit problem (and recall, the weakening economy was what brought this "dark Horse" to the White House in the first place); for this, he was lambasted by a jerk radio commentator named Ronald Wilson Reagan (and others now hawkish on deficits), because it involved prudence in expenditures- yes, even with the purchase of weapons systems.
On the other hand, he wasn't so "decent and honorable" as folk commonly think either. If he was a poor President, it's for reasons the right side of the aisle never mention, two in particular: Operation Cyclone for one, and greenlighting Saddam and the Iraqis on the Iran invasion for the other. Blood on his hands, make no mistake...
He deregulated airlines, trucking, railroads, and S&Ls.
He began the phase out of oil price controls (in 1979).
He appointed Paul Volcker to be Fed Chairman (in 1979) to end inflation. (That's why we had high interest rates in 1980.)
The maximum unemployment rate under Carter was 7.8%. Under Ford it was 9.0%, and under Reagan it was 10.8%. (Hannity gets this wrong all the time.)
He increased real defense spending for the first time in nine years.
He signed a directive on July 3, 1979, providing aid to the Afghan opposition movement (the Mujahideen), six months before the Soviets invaded Afghanistan.
One might say that the Reagan Revolution began under Jimmy Carter.
And yet the Neo-cons are always saying he has no idea what he's talking about whenever he speaks out on the Middle East...
Early in his administration Carter promised to include Palestinians in comprehensive peace negotiations. However, Israel demanded bilateral negotiations with Egypt -- a divide and conquer strategy. Carter and Sadat caved in to Israeli demands. Two agreements came out of Camp David: one was the framework for a peace treaty between Israel and Egypt; the other was a vague promise for negotiations to resolve the Palestinian issue. Carter and Sadat had abandoned the Palestinians.
Camp David worked out very well for both Israel and Egypt, especially Israel. As a result of Camp David, both Israel and Egypt received billions in U.S. aid. In 1986 alone, Israel got $3.6 billion from the U.S. At the time, Israel had 3.6 million Jews. That's $1000 for each and every Israeli Jew -- about $2000 in today's dollars.
The Palestinians got screwed, and most Arabs rejected Camp David. In 1981 members of the Egyptian military with ties to the original Egyptian Islamic Jihad assassinated Sadat.