Skip to: Content
Skip to: Site Navigation
Skip to: Search
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 2009
| Subscribe to Newser's RSS feeds RSS | Follow Newser on Twitter Twitter


29

Is Obama Turning Into Carter?

Share

(Newser) – Facing a burdensome political agenda, decreased popularity, and widespread opposition to his key policies, President Barack Obama appears poised to become the next Jimmy Carter, Matt Welch and Nick Gillespie write in the Washington Post. Both are "smart, moralistic" presidents who inherited brutal economies, but both responded with top-heavy spending. “Obama has mistaken his personal popularity for a national predilection toward emergency-driven central planning,” they write.

But Obama “has always resembled Clinton more than Carter,” and that means he should skip Carter’s pie-in-the-sky ambitions and stick to the Slick Willy strategy—limited spending and government growth, together with sound economic policy. "This might help him avoid the Carteresque pileup he's driving into,” Welch and Gillespie write. “Far more important, it just might help the rest of us.”

President Barack Obama poses with former presidents, from left, George H.W. Bush, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter, Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2009, in the Oval Office.
President Barack Obama poses with former presidents, from left, George H.W. Bush, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter, Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2009, in the Oval Office.   (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
President Barack Obama walks past a portrait of former President Jimmy Carter in the Cross Hall of the White House, Tuesday, March 24, 2009, in Washington.
President Barack Obama walks past a portrait of former President Jimmy Carter in the Cross Hall of the White House, Tuesday, March 24, 2009, in Washington.   (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
A 2004 issue of The New Yorker magazine that ran photographs of former President Jimmy Carter, left, and then-Sen. Barack Obama are shown on display at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.
A 2004 issue of The New Yorker magazine that ran photographs of former President Jimmy Carter, left, and then-Sen. Barack Obama are shown on display at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.   (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
« Prev« Prev | Next »Next » Slideshow

Obama's massively ambitious domestic agenda is at a fork in the road: One route leads to Plains, Ga., and early retirement, the other to Hope, Ark., a second term and the revitalization of the American economy. - Matt Welch and Nick Gillespie

« Prev« Prev | Next »Next » Slideshow
OFF THE GRID
11.24.09
Murdoch and Microsoft: The Mice Are Trying to Roar
11.23.09
Books Are Bad for You
29 comments
VIEWING:
 
IN RESPONSE:
nick
Jul 20, 09 9:05 AM CDT
You're beginning to piss me off!
Vote up! Vote down!
0
IN RESPONSE:
SalParadise
Jul 20, 09 10:14 AM CDT
"Liberal Fascist" remains an oxymoron.
Vote up! Vote down!
+6
IN RESPONSE:
NewserScooter
Jul 20, 09 11:30 AM CDT
Sal I doubt you are a Liberal Fascists, and its a term thrown around, at people I have never met. Nevertheless it is not an Oxymoron. The Red Chinese gov't is both excedingly liberal and Facist. There are many other examples. I HOPE Obama's administration will not morph in to one..
Vote up! Vote down!
-3
IN RESPONSE:
Mad
Jul 20, 09 1:43 PM CDT
One term wonder? Why, recently Rush was prophesying Obama would try for a third term. So, who you republicans going to trust? The WP, or Rush?
Vote up! Vote down!
+2
IN RESPONSE:
Jungun
Jul 20, 09 5:37 PM CDT
@NewserScooter This is utter nonsense. The Chinese govt is neither 'excedingly'(sic) liberal nor facist. It's communist for a start and with it's human rights record, complete lack of democracy and a free press it's not liberal in any sense of the word.
Vote up! Vote down!
+1

View all 29 comments »

LEAVE A
COMMENT Comment Policy
Facebook ConnectPost this comment to Facebook?

After connecting you will have the option to post your comment on your Facebook profile.

 

Related Newser Stories

491 Stories

CAMPAIGN MEMOIR

 Bill Sank Hillary's 
 VP Chances: Plouffe 

Clinton was still in contention in June: new memoir

Oct 29, 09 12:43 PM CDT
(Newser) - The Obama campaign seriously considered Hillary Clinton for vice president, but ultimately the perception that her husband was "too big a complication" combined with bad memories from the primary campaign to sink her chances. Barack Obama “said if his central criterion measured who could be the best VP,... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Barack Obama • Hillary Clinton • Bill Clinton • vice president • memoir • David Plouffe • David Axelrod • Election 2008 • vice presidential candidate • President Obama • excerpt • The Audacity to Win

Economy Grows in Q3, Signals End of Recession

Tenuous 3.5% growth is best showing in two years

Oct 29, 09 7:55 AM CDT
(AP) - The economy grew at a 3.5% pace in the third quarter, the best showing in two years, fueled by government-supported spending on cars and homes. The Commerce Department's report today delivered the strongest signal yet that the economy entered a new, though fragile, phase of recovery and that the... More »

MORE ABOUT:
economic growth • economic indicators • recession • economy • financial crisis

 Iceland Too Poor 
 for McDonald's 

With currency off 80%, golden arches fall

Oct 26, 09 2:55 PM CDT
(Newser) - Soon there will be at least one country you can visit without seeing the golden arches. The financial crisis hit Iceland’s currency so hard that McDonald’s, which imports most of its ingredients, can’t afford to operate there anymore. “We would have to raise our prices by... More »

MORE ABOUT:
globalization • McDonald's • Iceland • economy • financial crisis

491 Stories


Politics  •  Opinion 
TwitterFollow @NewserPolitics on Twitter

 
Barack Obama • Jimmy Carter • Bill Clinton • spending • economy • financial crisis

from our news partners