Newsline

Newsline , Society

Biden Speech Channels Jimmy Carter’s Complete Mental Inability to Admit Error

Posted on Wednesday, September 1, 2021
|
by AMAC Newsline
|
22 Comments
|
Print

AMAC Exclusive By: Daniel Roman

carter

Many AMAC readers are able to remember the moment Ronald Reagan clinched the 1980 election. It was the night of the one and only debate of the campaign, incumbent President Jimmy Carter having refused proposals to include independent candidate John Anderson, in what many believed to be a deliberate attempt to prevent any debates from taking place. With hindsight, avoiding the debates altogether would have been a wiser course for Carter. That evening, less than a week before election day, Jimmy Carter lost the race. He lost the race by behaving like Jimmy Carter, and thereby provided Ronald Reagan, supposed right-wing former actor, the chance to humanize himself by, well…acting human. Reagan came across like a normal American unpleasantly trapped in a conversation with the grating and arrogant Carter.

“Well, there you go again!” Reagan said.

The line is immortalized in the memories of millions, but the context deserves to be too, especially to anyone who has watched Joe Biden speak to the nation on Afghanistan in recent weeks. The similarities between Biden and Carter are legion, and they do not lie merely in substantive policy approaches or accusations of weakness. They go deeper, into the two men’s personalities. Carter was an abrasive individual, intellectually overconfident, and unable to back away from a fight. In practice, this meant Carter could not apologize without casting blame on those he apologized to, or admit error without arguing that he had done better than anyone else could have, or suggesting that other people bore more blame than he himself.

In that moment on the debate stage, Ronald Reagan did not merely say, “Well there you again!” His follow up, “Are you better off now than four years ago” was aimed at the millions of Americans whose lives were worse. But it also reminded voters of something else. It cut to the heart of the man he was on stage with. Reagan in effect asked his listeners “Do you want four more years of this?” And the answer for most Americans was a dramatic NO. Carter led by an average of 2% in polls going into the final debate. Less than a week later, he lost by 10%.

Jimmy Carter, largely though his post-presidential work, has tried to create a myth that he was unlucky. But as Napoleon suggested of his marshals, men create their own luck. It was Carter who transformed the challenges he faced—whether in Iran, Asia, Afghanistan, or at home—into historic setbacks. It would be unfair to blame Carter for the unpopularity of the Shah, or the incompetent short sightedness of the liberal Iranian opposition, or the foolishness of Arab leaders who tried to use oil as a weapon against Israel only to have it create far more dangerous enemies. It is, however, possible to blame Carter for making these his personal misfortunes and the misfortunes of the nation.

Carter often failed on these issues by his inability to detach himself from his role. The job of President is stressful, even when faced with a friendlier media than that which assailed Donald Trump. Carter, while a smart man, was one who saw criticisms of his policies or decisions as personal attacks on himself. Anyone who disagreed with him was casting personal aspersions about his ideas and intelligence.

When Walter Mondale arranged in the 1980 campaign for Carter to meet with foreign policy realists, Democrat academics and diplomats who were disappointed with his weakness toward the Soviet Union, they told him they were encouraged he’d admitted his view of the Soviets had changed after the invasion of Afghanistan. Carter denied he had ever said any such thing. That was it for them. They endorsed Reagan shortly thereafter.

But the trouble went further, implicating not just politics but policy. Because Carter’s ideas were his, and were clearly right, their failures had to be the fault of others. Hence, his infamous malaise speech, where he blamed the low level of confidence shown by Americans in the economy on the low self-esteem among Americans, similar to when he argued that the energy crisis was due to Americans not conserving.  The result was to make every interaction between the American people and their president adversarial.

It also meant that for a man who made his post-presidential reputation on empathy, it was impossible to display it. He could not explain a failure of policy without explaining that he was right to do it, he implemented it correctly, but it failed because of other people. The words in an apology do not work if the succeeding sentence involves excuses, much less accusations.

For anyone watching Joe Biden’s speech on Tuesday, or really any time over the past few weeks, the image is familiar. The proper words of defense were there. He stated repeatedly that he took full responsibility, allowing US media to run with that headline. In this way his speechwriters allowed this minimum of political cover for the mainstream media. But for anyone else, it was hard to believe this apology was genuine, or extracted without the most strenuous effort by his speechwriting team. As if a Frankenstein monster had been glued together on the page, each effort to apologize, show empathy, or take responsibility was followed by an accusation, defense, or moment of self-pity.

Biden stated that most Americans who wanted to had been able to leave, and that he was dedicated to helping those who remained return, but he subsequently cast blame on those who remained in Afghanistan, saying they had plenty of time to make plans to depart – months, he suggested (ignoring his own State Department’s warnings not to travel to Kabul, and not to approach the airport if present in Kabul). Biden then went on to suggest that many of these Americans were dual nationals who had likely decided to remain long ago. Whether this was true or not in some cases is beside the point. The point was, it was their fault not his. You got the sense that Biden thought he was doing them a favor, and more than they deserved.

Even when it came to matters of logistics rather than human life, Biden seemed to veer widely from self-praise to defensiveness. He suggested that he had little choice due to Donald Trump’s deal with the Taliban, but then stated his belief that the Taliban would enable further departures. Within the space of two minutes, he both stated that there was no way that the evacuation could have been orderly under the circumstances, implying it was far from orderly, and then declared it an extraordinary success. Al Jazeera, showing a much more critical eye than US media, captured both moments.

Perhaps there were two groups of speechwriters warring with one another. Or perhaps it was Joe Biden himself, revolting against his speechwriters who insisted he must show some signs of sympathy or contrition. In either event, Biden was having none of it. The President made abundantly clear that whatever the words present in the teleprompter, or distributed ahead of time to the press, he felt he had done nothing wrong. He had failed no one. Not the Afghans, not American servicemen, not Americans left behind. They had all failed themselves, and he was the victim of having to explain their failures to the press.

This is the same victim complex which brought down Carter. It was what Carter’s “Georgia Boys” conveyed, much in the same way Biden’s Senate office veterans, the “Delaware Boys” —Jake Sullivan at NSC, Anthony Blinken at State, and Ron Klain as Chief of Staff—display irritation every time they discuss Afghanistan. And they are boys. Jen Psaki has clearly had enough, already having announced plans to depart leaving an all-male, defiant team. For all that liberals and Democrats like to talk about a culture of “toxic masculinity” which makes admitting error or apologizing impossible, it has never been more on display than in their White House.

We are currently eight months into a 48-month term, and already, people around the world are asking themselves “Are we better off than we were 8 months ago?” No less than three European officials asked me that on Tuesday.

This is about more than Afghanistan, just as Carter’s issues were about more than Iran. Afghanistan has revealed in vivid fashion the pettiness, insecurity, and defensiveness behind Joe Biden, and an administration which feels the need to leak to the international press that Biden intends to “punish” Britain for its Afghanistan criticism, proving how petty he really is. We can only hope another Reagan will call him out. Maybe even a man who has been there before.

Daniel Roman is the pen name of a frequent commentator and lecturer on foreign policy and political affairs, both nationally and internationally. He holds a Ph.D. in International Relations from the London School of Economics.

We hope you've enjoyed this article. While you're here, we have a small favor to ask...

The AMAC Action Logo

Support AMAC Action. Our 501 (C)(4) advances initiatives on Capitol Hill, in the state legislatures, and at the local level to protect American values, free speech, the exercise of religion, equality of opportunity, sanctity of life, and the rule of law.

Donate Now
Share this article:
Subscribe
Notify of
guest
22 Comments
Most Voted
Newest Oldest
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Felix
Felix
3 years ago

Lying about not leaving any American’s behind at the mercy of the Taliban, isn’t bad enough, but leaving the Taliban so much of our taxpayer paid military arms and equipment , that could,be used against us, to me is aiding the enemy, which is treason. Joe Biden needs to be impeached and tried for treason. Very few politicians, and of course news media, are not calling him out for this.
Eric Trump on Newsmax made the comparison that the Taliban use to rode around on mopeds , and now have armored Hum Vs, tanks, Blackhawks, and more ammunition and arms than most countries ,and the Taliban is a designated terrorist organization .that hates America and western civilization. Biden, Blinken, Lloyd Austin and General Milly should all be called out for this.

Tim Toroian
Tim Toroian
3 years ago

Joe is going to make Carter seem like Churchill. Pay attention that I used the word seem and nothing more powerful or positive.

Bill on the Hill
Bill on the Hill
3 years ago

The real POTUS called out Biden long before the election was STOLEN from him…Here we are now ( 7 ) months ( 12 ) days into the faux JRB term & I ask anyone: Are we better off now than we were 8 months ago? The answer is an emphatic NO…In ( 4 ) years, he won’t live that long btw, the same question would be asked, the answer would still be the same, NO…
The article makes some interesting comparisons between Carter the “peanut farmer” & Biden the “legend in is own mind”…Carter at least had his faculties as aggravating as they were. Biden is mostly in a fog now & his every movement & talking points are carefully orchestrated…
The Deep State is pretty much where they need to be, they knew this day would come sooner or later, Biden will step down over medical issues imo & his replacement was installed in place from the very beginning…Speaking of the faux VP, she made it a point to pay a visit whilst in Nam to the John McCain Memorial calling him the hero he never was, you know the guy, when alive single handedly defeated the elimination of Obamacare, a true RINO to the core, what a legacy…
I believe this was his final act of defiance to the Trump administration before succumbing to brain cancer…
Bill on the Hill… :~)

Kim
Kim
3 years ago

The Taliban has upped its game, thanks to the president. They have out-finessed the most capable country on the planet, and it doesn’t matter how Biden tries to sugar-coat the devastation awaiting the Afghan people. He doesn’t care; he’s the president who got us out of Afghanistan!

It’s going to be a bloodbath. I dare not imagine the optics flowing out of Afghanistan on 9/11. And Biden won’t be taking any questions.

I said it before and repeat here, Mission Botched.

Philip Hammersley
Philip Hammersley
3 years ago

Biden is “supposedly” another intellectual who knows more than us peons! Carter’s “high IQ” was touted but, if he had one, it didn’t help his common sense any. Why he thought Islamic extremists who wanted to take over the world were better than the Shah (with his faults) is a great question! Likewise, Biden didn’t listen to those with the proper information but (with his anonymous “handlers”) chose the worst possible outcome!
Over 1100 days for a hostage crisis unlike Jimmah’s 444.

CoNMTX
CoNMTX
3 years ago

Biden’s brain cells are dying by the thousands daily. However, he never was a really sharp person, When he was a senator he screwed up words, places, & sentences. The only difference now is that he does it with regularity & mentally loses his place in a sentence. He forgets what he starts to say and also forgets where he is. He is totally mentally incompetent to be president; or dog catcher, street sweeper or anything else. Add to that the fact he is Godless, wicked, evil, & satanic and the combination does not a good president make.

PaulE
PaulE
3 years ago

The media will now sweep Afghanistan under the rug as fast as they can. Watch news stories about our people stuck over there to dry up within a few days and then cease completely a week later. The media will hype hurricane damage or some other news event to move the public’s attention away from Afghanistan. With the short attention span most Americans have today, in a month or two if you ask most Americans about the Americans and Afghani allies still stuck there, the response back will “What?”.

D.P.
D.P.
3 years ago

As afar as it goes, democrats , like the leopard, cannot change their spots….history reveals this in the long line of democrats who have carried the same torch over the years….the torch that will, if not quenched, burn this nation to the ground. Biden is just one more of the same….perhaps more baffoonish, more incipid, more vulnerable to outside influence that those before him, but the same none the less. His personal past as a senator is a “shining example” of weakness, slack jawed effort and continued “playing to the crowd”, a polititian thru and thru. His success record serves to show what he has been, he still is……and that won’t change. What separates him from Carter is that Carter did not have the same evil machinery in place that is present behind the scenes with Biden and the rest. While I am not sure Biden actually knows what going on, I am sure he doesn’t care one way or the other as long as he can sit in the Oval office, his dream fulfilled. My greatest concern is that there are almost no powers on capital hill that can or are willing to do battle upfront and boldly, even at the cost of their own careers…..and for me that’s the other side of the coin…..the senators and representatives and their aids, lobbyists, promoters and supporters are all career people…kingdom building and profiting in the face of disaster….and that includes a goodly number of conservatives and republicans.

George
George
3 years ago

But we don’t have any more of those mean tweets.

Big Russ
Big Russ
3 years ago

AMEN BROTHER! These pigs should get the same thing Julius and Ethel Rosenberg got!

Karen
Karen
3 years ago

How about replacing commie Dems along with the commie Media and bring back Trump’s tweets.
Loved his tweets and he was the only Pres that kept everyone informed of what was going on.
GO DOWN DEMS…….YOU ARE SATAN’S BASTARDS.

U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris takes the Oath of Office, being sworn in
Donald Trump vector portrait president of the united states
President Donald J. Trump and First Lady Melania Trump pray at the altar in the Redemptor Hominis Church Tuesday, June 2, 2020, at the Saint John Paul II National Shrine in Washington, D.C. (Official White House Photo by Andrea Hanks)

Stay informed! Subscribe to our Daily Newsletter.

"*" indicates required fields

22
0
Would love your thoughts, please comment.x
()
x

Subscribe to AMAC Daily News and Games