"White House Diary" by Jimmy Carter

[groovedaddy]

Jimmy Carter’s first book, “Why Not the Best?” — published in 1976 when he was a long shot running for president — introduced him charmingly as a born-again Christian, former Georgia governor, former naval officer, Sunday school teacher and peanut farmer. But its frontispiece cast a shadow by quoting the theologian Reinhold Niebuhr: “The sad duty of politics is to establish justice in a sinful world.”

That citation was an early sign that Mr. Carter would sometimes bear his presidency like a cross. Indeed, Mr. Carter’s 25th book, “White House Diary,” the edited and annotated journals of his turbulent years in office, reminds one of the plagues visited on him, many beyond his control, and the way he stumbled, suffered, tried to do the right thing, tried to understand his errors and seemed to believe that politics in a fallen world doomed him to being unappreciated.

“This may be my last chance to offer an assessment of my time in the White House,” the nearly 86-year-old former president writes in his afterword. “Looking back, I am struck by how many unpopular objectives we pursued.” Even his proudest accomplishments — the Israel-Egypt peace treaty and getting the hostages seized in Iran home safe — hardly helped his reputation, he notes, adding: “I was sometimes accused of ‘micromanaging’ the affairs of government and being excessively autocratic, and I must admit that my critics probably had a valid point.”

The diaries are not particularly rewarding to read in their entirety, with their endless pages of uninflected entries describing crowds, receptions, appointments and meetings, mixed with asides about his wife, Rosalynn, and his family, mother, jogging, swimming (even skinny-dipping), bowling, fly-fishing and his tennis topspin. In one annotation, Mr. Carter winces that the diary entries do seem self-congratulatory.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/27/books/27book.html?th&emc=th

[ramapo]

1. Interesting...not exciting

I am, admittedly, a political junkie. I keep trying to kick the habit but it has been with me for fifty years, since I was five years old so I guess, sadly, that I am a hopeless case.

I found Carter's presentation of his day-to-day life as President quite insightful. The job, for all the glory, stress, and power, comes across as just a job. He still found time for some of the mundane activity of normal life and was able to get in quite a bit of fishing.

The book solidified my long-held opinion of his presidency. His fellow Democrats were his worst enemies and we really do have Ted Kennedy to thank for the rise of Ronald Reagan. It always amazed me how Reagan got away with vilifying Carter as the prolific spender responsible for moon-high debt when in fact Carter was probably the most fiscally responsible President of my lifetime. That alone, earned him the wrath of many a Democrat.

As I remembered, he worked quite successfully with the Republican leadership. There truly was bipartisanship during his term and his recounting of his legislative successes shows how much worse off we are today.

His notes on many of the Congressional members were particularly interesting given the passing of history. Most distressing is the clarity that his diary gives to the utter failure of Congress, Presidents, and society at large in dealing with energy, health care, the environment, and fiscal policy in the decades since. I have long said, "If only we had taken Jimmy Carter seriously, we would be a lot better off today". Of course, most people tell me I am crazy when I say that.

Most mentions of Carter will bring groans of derision because of his "weak" leadership and his destruction of the economy. In fact, most of the economic statistics would look downright rosy today. Inflation was probably the biggest problem, brought on by the onslaught of higher energy prices. As a saver, the high interest rates of the time weren't so bad for me, certainly not much worse than today where you might earn 0.10% on your savings while prices of essentials continue to rise. But the high interest rates were a result of Paul Volker's monetary policy, which Carter did not try to change despite his realization that these policies equated to bad politics.

I think most illuminating were Carter's notes on losing reelection. While no doubt intensely disappointing, there was also a real sense of relief to be able to pass along the pressures and problems. Even the Democratic Senate leadership was relieved to lose control and with it the pressures of trying to govern. Carter moved on and indicated little remorse or sadness. Just days after moving back to Plains, he was just another guy.

His accounting of the MidEast peace negotiations bogged down but then again so did the whole process.
Other than that, I found the book fairly riveting, in spite of, or maybe because of the mundane day-to-day diary of his on the job experience.

[AngryOldDem]

2. Just finished this....I found it interesting.

The Afterword especially so, in the light of recent events -- I saw some parallels between Carter and Obama.

The details of the process of the Camp David Accords and the efforts to free the hostages were also compelling...the rest was just The Day in the Life of the President of the United States.