Barack Obama: The New Jimmy Carter

National Review Online: A Look Back At 1976 Election Gives Us Reason To Doubt Democrat's Sincerity

(National Review Online)  This column was written by Mark Moyar.

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A newcomer to national politics, he claimed to transcend partisan labels. He moved to the center during the campaign, at a time when the Democrats held large congressional majorities. In a troubled economy, he told voters he would keep taxes down for most Americans, limit spending, and balance the budget, all while implementing ambitious social programs. He planned to cut military spending to free money for other purposes, but assured moderates and conservatives that when it came to America’s enemies, he would be tougher than the Republicans. The media, droves of moderates, and some conservatives believed him, having pegged him as a man of character.

His name was Jimmy Carter, the year was 1976, and he won. His presidency helps us predict the likely results of a Barack Obama victory in 2008.

What did the majority of 1976 get in return for its votes? Carter’s campaign vow to avoid increasing payroll taxes went out the window: He and Congress raised Social Security taxes through the roof. They also slapped large new taxes on oil and gas. Meanwhile, Carter canceled his plan for a tax refund to Americans earning under $30,000. Casting aside more campaign pledges, Carter and Congress increased annual federal spending from $403 billion to $579 billion and grew the national debt from $709 billion to $914 billion. Tens of billions of dollars went to new jobs programs, urban aid, and mushrooming entitlements, and Carter’s promise to stop Democratic pork-barrel spending was abandoned.

Carter and the Democratic Congress generated 18 percent inflation and economic stagnation at the same time. Unemployment rose. Americans came to regret the votes they had cast - Carter’s approval rating sank to 21 percent in 1980, the lowest in the history of polling.

Carter also threw out his professed hawkishness on foreign policy. Declaring America liberated from its “inordinate fear of Communism,” he sought better relations with the Communists in the Soviet Union, China, Cuba, and Vietnam. He was much less nice to America’s allies, withdrawing support from those who did not accept his self-righteous demands for human-rights reforms. Friendly regimes in Nicaragua and Iran fell to hostile tyrants.

If Obama abandons his promises the way Carter did, his presidency will be even more dangerous. Carter at least had longstanding tendencies toward fiscal restraint, and he, together with a large block of conservative Democrats in Congress, prevented the most left-wing elements of Congress from taxing and spending even more. Obama, on the other hand, has himself been part of the most left-wing element in the U.S. Senate, and conservatives do not have a significant presence on the Democratic side of the Reid-Pelosi Congress. Also, Obama has no history of breaking with his party before this year.

There are reasons to believe Obama will indeed break his promises. In March, he told the American public he would force Canada and Mexico to make concessions on NAFTA. Obama’s senior economic adviser privately assured Canadian officials that Obama’s public promises were “more reflective of political maneuvering than policy.” In the ensuing months, Obama likewise sent contradictory messages to different audiences on such issues as taxes, Iraq, and crime.

In the second presidential debate, Obama made the most flagrant of his bogus promises yet, when he announced a “net spending cut.” The National Taxpayers Union has estimated that Obama will actually produce a net spending increase of at least $292 billion per year. Although the press would have pilloried John McCain for such a brazen falsehood, Obama took so little heat that he repeated it again at the third debate.

Also during the third debate, Obama distanced himself from ACORN, denying any involvement with this organization since 1995. But as Sen. McCain pointed out, the Obama campaign paid $832,000 to an ACORN subsidiary earlier this year. Most ominous for the future is Obama’s statement to the Heartland Presidential Forum - which consists of ACORN and other leftist “community organizations” - that as soon as he wins the election, “we'll be calling all of you in to help us shape the agenda.”

Perhaps most incriminating of all is Joe Biden’s Seattle speech. In words that received less media attention than the “international testing” remarks, Biden asserted that an Obama administration would make unpopular decisions, because “if they're popular, they’re probably not sound.” As a consequence, “You all are going to be sitting here a year from now going, ‘Oh my God, why are they there in the polls, why is the polling so down?’” In other words, Obama’s poll numbers will fall once Americans learn that his popular promises of 2008 have been supplanted in 2009 by actions that most Americans oppose.

Before casting a vote for Obama, Americans must consider the likelihood that he will follow the path of Jimmy Carter - that he will wreck the fragile economy by reneging on promises to cut taxes and spending, that he will be tough on America’s allies and soft on its enemies. The odds of Obama staying true to his current rhetoric are so poor that not even the boldest gambler should bet on it.

What an insult, Obama is no Carter......
Obama, is to keep General Powell as an advisor, If elected and wants to re-start the draft. Perhaps its

time since enlistment is at an all time low. He also wants to send troops to Afghanistan but take them out of Iraq. I sure will be glad when all this is over lol.



"Why are some Democrats worried that Mr. Obama may not necessarily be headed to the White House?

For starters, the American people like to have checks and balances. With predictions that Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid will grow their liberal power bases in the House and the Senate, more Americans than reflected in various polls may decide to apply the brakes to an Obama presidency.

And I know you%u2019ve heard this before, experience does matter. Joe Biden may have inadvertently made that case for John McCain when he recently said that the world will test Barack Obama in six months. %u201CThe world is looking,%u201D he said. %u201CWatch, we%u2019re going to have an international crisis, a generated crisis, to test the mettle of this guy.%u201D
I feel the American People should not have to go through this again. Obama is double minded..will say anything to get elected.
Vote Mc Cain, Palin!!!

[upto1947]

If I was Jimmy I would not like this. Obama Osama is no Jimmy. Jimmy was much much better than Obama Osama well every be. Obama Osama is no good and never well be any good. He is a crook.

[tallyman2008]

In opening paragraph - thought they talking about Dubya




NRO

You do good job throwing rocks at Carter

But, you present him as if he suddenly appeared like magic

As if nothing or no one came before

Ever heard of Nixon ?


Is curious how that name is not mentioned one time in article

Neither is Reagan

But in light of the 40+ year GOP screw job of America now reaching its climax

Probably wise not to bring up those names at this time

[ofbyfor3]

Posted by patriotGI at 11:14 AM : Oct 26, 2008

What a load of nonsense! People like you couldn''t find their buttcheeks with both hands.

PS--Berg''s frivolous lawsuit has been dismissed. Good luck with the appeal. I doubt any court will take it, since thay all have more intelligence than you.

Maybe if you removed the tin-foil hat, you''d realize that any candidate for POTUS had to have been fully vetted at this point.

[wka656]

MCcain not Hussein O. !! Hussein O. wasnt born in the US...he was a student in Indonesia after his mother remmarried there and he could have only been a student if he was an Indonesian resident!! Your wrong again you liberal ignorant idiot...nothing about Hussein O. has been vetted.....let alone fully...your a joke !!

[wka656]

Bob you need to not only sleep but retire since yoiu cant report the truth in your bias garbage that you spout!! Why dont you report that Obama was in fact born in Kenya and 4 days after his birth his mother flew to the states. He "probably" went to Hawaii this week to remove his records because they show that he was an exchange student and not born in the United States!!! why dont you report on this law suit to view his medical records to justify his birth place. he is in fact an iligimate candidate and has defrauded America out of tens of millions of dollars in his false campaign. Your no patiot Bob S. your simply an America hater and Rush L. has pegged you correctly...you should listen to him more, he speaks the truth about both parties!!

[ofbyfor3]

When the rich hind there money, they stop investing, and there businesses for which i work for stop hireing, and close up shop, also other businesses go our of business, stop the class warfare the democrats start every election.

does the poor and the ones that don''''t work pay our salarys.

Posted by KathySun at 11:57 PM : Oct 25, 2008

When the middle class has no money, they stop consuming and businesses can''t make a profit. What do you think the Christmas retail season is going to be like this year? How do you think that will affect job creation?

The Republicans have been playing the class warfare tactic on US for over 2 decades and have gotten away with it until now because there are stupid people like you that buy into it.

[ofbyfor3]

Do you really want as President that the Muslims or socialist league in Europe like, with that saying all the terorist organization want one man to be president, now who are your really mr Obama, why are you on the fast track to the white house. Why this is the same way Jimmy Carter came about. and look what happen in the mid70''''s.

Posted by KathySun at 11:47 PM : Oct 25, 2008

Al Qaeda endorsed McCain.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/21/AR2008102102477.html

[ofbyfor3]

Hey fool, thee was no solar energy back in 1980, i''''m was in my 1st year of engineering school at Yougnstown State. Stop making stuff up Obama ROBOTs u just make Obama look like a stupid person. if you have to lie to make him look good by lieing

Posted by KathySun at 11:31 PM : Oct 25, 2008

Poor delusional Kathy--
First of all, anyone with any intelligence can tell by your posts that you have NEVER been an engineering student, so perhaps YOU are the one who should stop LYING.

Even if you WERE an engineering student (which I highly doubt), you were an extremely IGNORANT one, since Jimmy Carter did indeed install solar panels in the White House, unveiling them in June 1979.

Don''t believe me? Below is a link to a story in Business Week that proves me right. (And you can hardly call ''Business Week'' a member of the so-called ''liberal media'')

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/04_36/b3898119_mz018.htm

[ofbyfor3]

THATS USEALLY THE LAST BOMB LEFTYS THROW.OBAMA IS IN VIOLATION OF THE CONSTITUTION.PHILLIP BERG HAS FILED SUIT AGAINST HIM IN FEDERAL COURT.

Posted by NEEDERBAUR at 10:28 PM : Oct 25, 2008

First of all, TURN OFF THE FREAKING CAPS KEY! It does nothing to help you make your point. In fact, most people will skip right over it and ignore you.

Secondly, Berg''s lawsuit was dismissed (Oct. 25, 2008).

Third, the Birth Certificate pseudo-controversy is old news and has already been debunked. I highly doubt it will go anywhere on appeal, because the courts recognize it as frivolous.

If you think for one second that any candidate for POTUS could get this far without being thoroughly vetted, then you reeeeally need to remove the tin-foil hat.

[truthspeake2]

...I''ll take Carter over Bu$h anyday!

[hsinco-2009]

John McCain the NEW GEORGE W. BU$H.

[shyam8]

Obama, castro, Chavez, Morales: what a lineup. Lenin must be laughing in his grave. Finally, wealth will be spread out in the entire world: just what Karl Marx dreamt of.

[shyam8]

I would say more like New Castro in black.

[jolsonbear]

the NRO sounds like the McCain campaing. Neither can give us any sustantive reasons to vote FOR McCain; just a bunch of lame comparisons of Obama to past presidents and a lot of he11-fire-and-brimstone-doom-and-gloom preaching GOP style.

[ioweign]

Hey fool, thee was no solar energy back in 1980, i''m was in my 1st year of engineering school at Yougnstown State. Stop making stuff up Obama ROBOTs u just make Obama look like a stupid person.
if you have to lie to make him look good by lieing

Ronald Reagan''s first official acts of office included removing Jimmy Carter''s solar panels from the roof of the White House, and reversing most of Carter''s conservation and alternative energy policies.


Posted by IOWEIGN at 10:50 PM : Oct 25, 2008

Posted by KathySun at 11:31 PM : Oct 25, 2008


The photovoltaic effect was first recognized in 1839 by French physicist A. E. Becquerel. However, it was not until 1883 that the first solar cell was built, by Charles Fritts, who coated the semiconductor selenium with an extremely thin layer of gold to form the junctions. The device was only around 1% efficient. Russell Ohl patented the modern solar cell in 1946 (U.S. Patent 2,402,662 , "Light sensitive device"). Sven Ason Berglund had a prior patent concerning methods of increasing the capacity of photosensitive cells. The modern age of solar power technology arrived in 1954 when Bell Laboratories, experimenting with semiconductors, accidentally found that silicon doped with certain impurities was very sensitive to light.

[nearl4511]

You know what''s really funny. Chris Buckley has endorsed Obama.

He said something telling today. He stated that what most conservatives are really afraid about Obama is that he will be a very good competent President.

He is right. Most Republicans are not "afraid" he may be Muslim or socialist or in league with home grown terrorists...they are really afraid that in spite of very bad economic times, he may be successful. Trickle down may be dead! Reaganism may be dead! That is NRO''s fear.

[ioweign]

Ronald Reagan''s first official acts of office included removing Jimmy Carter''s solar panels from the roof of the White House, and reversing most of Carter''s conservation and alternative energy policies.

[ioweign]

Very close to the truth but not quite. George is worst but no way Carter is a genius.

Posted by bunwiper at 10:24 PM : Oct 25, 2008

Have you ever read his Proposed Energy Policy that he delivered on television April 18, 1977 ?

We would not have these energy problems if it had been followed...

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/carter/filmmore/ps_energy.html

[ioweign]

Barack Obama: The New Jimmy Carter

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John McCain: The Same Old George W Bush