Why is Jimmy Carter considered a huge failure?
There are a few reasons why Carter is typically considered to be a bad president, at least if we're assuming that "bad" in this case means ineffective.
After the Nixon and Ford years, Americans came to view their government as being coldly pragmatic but, more importantly, corrupt and incompetent. Moreover, in terms of international affairs, the U.S. was encountering an international system that was becoming increasingly multi-polar. In other words, global power was shifting away from the two superpowers and disaggregating among the Third World states, Asia, and an increasingly integrated Europe. This disaggregation of power was most clearly symbolized by the U.S. defeat in Vietnam and a series of oil crises instigated by OPEC (a conglomerate of oil producing states based in the Middle East, in addition to Venezuela) that made gas prices soar in the U.S.Carter believed that he could simultaneously renew America's trust in government and reassert America's leading role within global affairs. He failed in both regards. A lot of it had to do with his personality. He came to Washington believing that he could change the way politics was made. He hoped to make politics more transparent which would, he believed, make politics more effective and less divisive. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Carter's self-perception as a reformer and Washington outsider concomitantly carried what can best be described as a savior complex. He looked down on other politicians, believing his deep-seated morality made him the only one capable of bringing the Washington establishment into line. Thus, Carter arrived in Washington expecting Congress to fall lock-step behind his policies. Naturally, congressmen from both parties weren't to fond of the way Carter handled congressional relations. This tension between the executive and the congress was exacerbated by Carter's aides, who were primarily old friends and staffers from when Carter was governor of Georgia. Georgia politics are, of course, nothing like Washington politics, and Carter's aides were woefully inadequate for the job. Still, he kept them, much to the chagrin of even the Democratic congressional leadership. Due to bad congressional relations, Carter had difficulty passing domestic reforms on such major issues as social security and health care. If this wasn’t enough to derail his policy-making process, Carter’s hands-on approach to everything didn’t help. He was notorious for wanting to personally review and authorize even the most minimal of tasks, going so far as to personally OK each morning who would be allowed to use the White House tennis courts. Not all of the problems with Congress stemmed from Carter's and his aide's personalities though. After Watergate, politicians promised to make politics more transparent. This, unfortunately, made it more difficult for politicians to do the back-room bargaining that leads to compromise and, eventually, the passage of legislation. Moreover, Congress as an institutional structure was changing. During Carter's presidency, Congress split into many different caucuses (basically, groups of like-minded congressmen that ally to create mutually supported policies). These caucuses existed, like always, at the broadest level (Democrat and Republican), but now there were additionally a plethora of smaller caucuses like an African-American caucus, a women’s caucus, regional caucuses, etc. This explosion of caucuses allowed almost all congressmen to gain good committee assignments. Congressmen used these congressional committees, covered intensely by the media, as ways to generate publicity and gain support for re-election. Due to the greater publicity that even junior representatives now held, there was less of a need to rely on their party label when they ran for office. Instead, they could run on personal recognition. All of this ultimately meant that there was less of a need for individual congressmen to hew toward the party line, which made it even more difficult for Carter to gather congressional support for his policies.
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/26ii2s/why_is_jimmy_carter_considered_to_have_been_a_bad/
After the Nixon and Ford years, Americans came to view their government as being coldly pragmatic but, more importantly, corrupt and incompetent. Moreover, in terms of international affairs, the U.S. was encountering an international system that was becoming increasingly multi-polar. In other words, global power was shifting away from the two superpowers and disaggregating among the Third World states, Asia, and an increasingly integrated Europe. This disaggregation of power was most clearly symbolized by the U.S. defeat in Vietnam and a series of oil crises instigated by OPEC (a conglomerate of oil producing states based in the Middle East, in addition to Venezuela) that made gas prices soar in the U.S.Carter believed that he could simultaneously renew America's trust in government and reassert America's leading role within global affairs. He failed in both regards. A lot of it had to do with his personality. He came to Washington believing that he could change the way politics was made. He hoped to make politics more transparent which would, he believed, make politics more effective and less divisive. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Carter's self-perception as a reformer and Washington outsider concomitantly carried what can best be described as a savior complex. He looked down on other politicians, believing his deep-seated morality made him the only one capable of bringing the Washington establishment into line. Thus, Carter arrived in Washington expecting Congress to fall lock-step behind his policies. Naturally, congressmen from both parties weren't to fond of the way Carter handled congressional relations. This tension between the executive and the congress was exacerbated by Carter's aides, who were primarily old friends and staffers from when Carter was governor of Georgia. Georgia politics are, of course, nothing like Washington politics, and Carter's aides were woefully inadequate for the job. Still, he kept them, much to the chagrin of even the Democratic congressional leadership. Due to bad congressional relations, Carter had difficulty passing domestic reforms on such major issues as social security and health care. If this wasn’t enough to derail his policy-making process, Carter’s hands-on approach to everything didn’t help. He was notorious for wanting to personally review and authorize even the most minimal of tasks, going so far as to personally OK each morning who would be allowed to use the White House tennis courts. Not all of the problems with Congress stemmed from Carter's and his aide's personalities though. After Watergate, politicians promised to make politics more transparent. This, unfortunately, made it more difficult for politicians to do the back-room bargaining that leads to compromise and, eventually, the passage of legislation. Moreover, Congress as an institutional structure was changing. During Carter's presidency, Congress split into many different caucuses (basically, groups of like-minded congressmen that ally to create mutually supported policies). These caucuses existed, like always, at the broadest level (Democrat and Republican), but now there were additionally a plethora of smaller caucuses like an African-American caucus, a women’s caucus, regional caucuses, etc. This explosion of caucuses allowed almost all congressmen to gain good committee assignments. Congressmen used these congressional committees, covered intensely by the media, as ways to generate publicity and gain support for re-election. Due to the greater publicity that even junior representatives now held, there was less of a need to rely on their party label when they ran for office. Instead, they could run on personal recognition. All of this ultimately meant that there was less of a need for individual congressmen to hew toward the party line, which made it even more difficult for Carter to gather congressional support for his policies.
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/26ii2s/why_is_jimmy_carter_considered_to_have_been_a_bad/
61-69, M
