HARRY'S GANG: Jimmy Carter is my favorite

Jimmy Carter has always been my favorite president. I’m not sure many people agreed with me, because when he ran for re-election in 1980 he got only about 40 percent of the vote and lost to Ronald Reagan. He didn’t even get into office easily; he barely beat Gerald Ford in 1976, even with Ford’s ties to the corruption of Nixon. It’s been said that Jimmy Carter has been viewed far more favorably as an ex-President than he ever will be as a President.

But I liked him as President. I was just 12 years old when he was elected, and I remember quite a bit of the hoopla. He was a Southern evangelical Christian, who wore his religion on his sleeve, but politically was very liberal. He admitted to Playboy that he had committed “lust in his heart,” which at 12 sounded pretty racy to me, even though I didn’t really understand what it meant. He took a lot of heat for it, and was so graceful and honest about it, I felt he was trustworthy.

He had an amazing campaign. Somehow, he calmly and quietly campaigned for the Democratic nomination without attracting much attention. His early efforts paid off as he gained popularity directly from voters rather than party leaders. He was the first to capitalize on a strategy that is, nowadays, the norm. Jimmy Carter is the reason we pay so much attention to Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary. He won the nomination because he focused on those two contests, and did unexpectedly well.

As soon as he was elected, he graciously allowed Vietnam War protesters, who dodged the draft by escaping to Canada, to come home. I can see why such a move was controversial, but at the time he seemed like a kind parent, who may scold me for getting home late from my friend’s house but still fed me dinner and asked about my day. It was a classy move in stark contrast to the pardon Ford gave Nixon. Carter seemed so humble and kind.

Carter spoke of inclusion and acceptance. He was a deep Southerner, but abhorred the racial tensions in America and tried to do something about it. A graduate of the Naval Academy, he returned home to run his family’s peanut farm, which he apparently found very rewarding. As a kid who hoped to take over his father’s restaurant, I could relate to Carter. He was inspiring.

Jimmy Carter and I had a lot in common, I thought. Not only was he a dove rather than a hawk, we both had an interest in science. We both thought energy policy was very important. We both came from small towns. Heck, Plains, Georgia was even smaller than Two Harbors.

We had a severe energy crisis during the Carter years, and his response was impressive. I valued his scientific approach to energy policy. Conservation, innovation and education dominated his energy plan. He asked us to turn down our thermostats. We did.

His single term as president had its issues. The economy was terrible, and inflation was rampant. Between the energy crisis and the rising cost of groceries and household expenses, Carter didn’t stand a chance. Cold, hungry voters generally won’t support a president who they feel, right or wrong, got them that way. Reagan beat him easily.

Professor Roger Fischer ranked Jimmy Carter pretty low on his list of greatest presidents. Roger was a history professor, though, and not a political scientist. He used to tease me when we talked about Carter, because he knew how much I admired the man. In the professor’s eyes, Jimmy Carter did great things as a former president, but his tenure in the Oval Office was less than tepid. I still disagree.

Maybe America was just not ready for an intellectual in the Oval Office. I’m not sure we would be ready now, either.

Pete Radosevich is the publisher of the Pine Knot News and an attorney in Esko. His opinions are his own.