11-09-2008, 04:16 AM
The Worst President In American HistoryProfile In Incompetence:
The Worst President In American
History By INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY | Posted Wednesday,
September 10, 2008 4:20 PM PT
Jimmy Carter became our 39th president at the young age of
52. He was a one-term governor from Plains, GA, where he
managed the family peanut farm and taught Sunday school. He
was also a graduate of the Naval Academy and served seven
years in the Navy, leaving as a lieutenant.
He came to power in the aftermath of the Vietnam War and
the resignation of President Nixon. The public wanted
change and someone new, and Carter was an ambitious,
hands-on politician who promised better days. As good as
his intentions were, however, the things he tried were not
successful. In fact, he created far more serious problems
than he ever solved.
The centerpiece of Carter's foreign policy was human
rights, and he did achieve one noble successa peace
treaty between Egypt's Anwar Sadat and Israel's Menachem
Begin.
Unfortunately, that later led to Sadat's assassination at
the hands of Muslim radicals.
Many people felt Carter was a good man who worked hard and
meant well. But he was naive and incompetent in handling
the enormous burdens and complex challenges of being
president.
He wrongly believed Americans had an 'inordinate fear of
communism,' so he lifted travel bans to Cuba, North Vietnam
and Cambodia and pardoned draft evaders. He also stopped
B-1 bomber production and gave away our strategically
located Panama Canal.
His most damaging miscalculation was the withdrawal of
U.S. support for the Shah of Iran, a strong and longtime
military ally. Carter objected to the Shah's alleged
mistreatment of imprisoned Soviet spies who were working to
overthrow Iran's government. He thought the exiled
Ayatollah Khomeini, being a religious man, would make a
fairer leader.
Having lost U.S. support, the Shah was overthrown, the
Ayatollah returned, Iran was declared an Islamic nation and
Palestinian hit men were hired to eliminate opposition.
The Ayatollah then introduced the idea of suicide bombers
to the Palestine Liberation Organization, paying $35,000 to
PLO families whose young people were brainwashed to kill as
many Israelis as possible by blowing themselves up in
crowded shopping areas.
Next, the Ayatollah used Iran's oil wealth to create,
train and finance a new terrorist organization, Hezbollah,
which later would attack Israel in 2006.
In November 1979, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and other Iranians
stormed the U.S. embassy in Tehran and took 52 Americans
hostage for 444 days. Not until six months into the ordeal
did Carter attempt a rescue. But the mission, using just
six Navy helicopters, was poorly executed. Three of the
copters were disabled or lost in sandstorms. (Pilots
weren't allowed to meet with weather forecasters because
someone in authority worried about security.) Five airmen
and three Marines lost their lives.
So, due to overconfidence, inexperience and poor judgment,
Carter undermined and lost a strong ally, Iran, that today
aggressively threatens the U.S., Israel and the rest of the
world with nuclear weapons.
But that's not all. After Carter met for the first time
with Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev, the USSR promptly
invaded Afghanistan. Carter, ever the naive appeaser, was
shocked. 'I can't believe the Russians lied to me,' he
said.
The invasion attracted a 23-year-old Saudi named Osama bin
Laden to Afghanistan to recruit Muslim fighters and raise
money for an anti-Soviet jihad. Part of that group
eventually became al-Qaida, a terrorist organization that
would declare war on America several times between 1996 and
1998 before attacking us on 9/11, killing more Americans
than the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
On Carter's watch, the Soviet Union went on an
unrestrained rampage in which it took over not only
Afghanistan, but also Ethiopia, South Yemen, Angola,
Cambodia, Mozambique, Grenada and Nicaragua.
In spite of this, Carter's last defense budget proposed
spending 45% below pre-Vietnam levels for fighter aircraft,
75% for ships, 83% for attack submarines and 90% for
helicopters.
Years later, as a civilian, Carter negotiated a peace
agreement with North Korea to keep that communist country
from developing nuclear weapons. He also convinced
President Clinton and Secretary of State Madeleine Albright
to go along with it. But the signed piece of paper proved
worthless. The North Koreans deceived Carter and instead
used our money, incentives and technical equipment to build
nuclear weapons and pose the threat we face today.
Thus did Carter unwittingly become our Neville Chamberlain
, creating with his well-intended but inept, unrealistic and
gullible actions the very conditions that led to the three
most dangerous security threats we face today: Iran,
al-Qaida and North Korea.
On the domestic side, Carter gave us inflation of 15%, the
highest in 34 years; interest rates of 21%, the highest in
115 years; and a severe energy crisis with lines around the
block at gas stations nationwide.
In 1977, Carter, along with a Democrat Congress, created a
worthy project with noble intentionsthe Community
Reinvestment Act. Over strong industry objections, it
mandated that all banks meet the credit needs of their
entire communities.
In 1995, President Clinton imposed even stronger
regulations and performance tests that coerced banks to
substantially increase loans to low-income, poverty-area
borrowers or face fines or possible restrictions on
expansion. These revisions allowed for securitization of
CRA loans containing subprime mortgages.
By 1997, good loans were bundled with poor ones and sold
as prime packages to institutions here and abroad. That
shifted risk from the loan originators, freeing banks to
begin pyramiding and make more of these profitable subprime
products.
Under two young, well-intended presidents, therefore,
big-government plans and mandates played a significant role
in the current subprime mortgage mess and its catastrophic
consequences for the U.S. and international economies.
Hardest-hit by the mortgage foreclosures have been the
citizens that Democrats always claim to help
mostinner-city residents who fell victim to low or no
down payment schemes, unexpected adjustable rates, deceptive
loan applications and commission-hungry salespeople.
Now we're having to bail out at huge cost Fannie Mae and
Freddie Mac, the very agencies that were supposed to
stabilize the system. In time, this should improve the
situation. But the party of Carter and Clinton that
midwifed our mortgage mess now wants to be trusted to take
over and have the government run our entire system of health
care!
And everyone is blaming Bush for our current problems.
The Lack
The Worst President In American
History By INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY | Posted Wednesday,
September 10, 2008 4:20 PM PT
Jimmy Carter became our 39th president at the young age of
52. He was a one-term governor from Plains, GA, where he
managed the family peanut farm and taught Sunday school. He
was also a graduate of the Naval Academy and served seven
years in the Navy, leaving as a lieutenant.
He came to power in the aftermath of the Vietnam War and
the resignation of President Nixon. The public wanted
change and someone new, and Carter was an ambitious,
hands-on politician who promised better days. As good as
his intentions were, however, the things he tried were not
successful. In fact, he created far more serious problems
than he ever solved.
The centerpiece of Carter's foreign policy was human
rights, and he did achieve one noble successa peace
treaty between Egypt's Anwar Sadat and Israel's Menachem
Begin.
Unfortunately, that later led to Sadat's assassination at
the hands of Muslim radicals.
Many people felt Carter was a good man who worked hard and
meant well. But he was naive and incompetent in handling
the enormous burdens and complex challenges of being
president.
He wrongly believed Americans had an 'inordinate fear of
communism,' so he lifted travel bans to Cuba, North Vietnam
and Cambodia and pardoned draft evaders. He also stopped
B-1 bomber production and gave away our strategically
located Panama Canal.
His most damaging miscalculation was the withdrawal of
U.S. support for the Shah of Iran, a strong and longtime
military ally. Carter objected to the Shah's alleged
mistreatment of imprisoned Soviet spies who were working to
overthrow Iran's government. He thought the exiled
Ayatollah Khomeini, being a religious man, would make a
fairer leader.
Having lost U.S. support, the Shah was overthrown, the
Ayatollah returned, Iran was declared an Islamic nation and
Palestinian hit men were hired to eliminate opposition.
The Ayatollah then introduced the idea of suicide bombers
to the Palestine Liberation Organization, paying $35,000 to
PLO families whose young people were brainwashed to kill as
many Israelis as possible by blowing themselves up in
crowded shopping areas.
Next, the Ayatollah used Iran's oil wealth to create,
train and finance a new terrorist organization, Hezbollah,
which later would attack Israel in 2006.
In November 1979, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and other Iranians
stormed the U.S. embassy in Tehran and took 52 Americans
hostage for 444 days. Not until six months into the ordeal
did Carter attempt a rescue. But the mission, using just
six Navy helicopters, was poorly executed. Three of the
copters were disabled or lost in sandstorms. (Pilots
weren't allowed to meet with weather forecasters because
someone in authority worried about security.) Five airmen
and three Marines lost their lives.
So, due to overconfidence, inexperience and poor judgment,
Carter undermined and lost a strong ally, Iran, that today
aggressively threatens the U.S., Israel and the rest of the
world with nuclear weapons.
But that's not all. After Carter met for the first time
with Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev, the USSR promptly
invaded Afghanistan. Carter, ever the naive appeaser, was
shocked. 'I can't believe the Russians lied to me,' he
said.
The invasion attracted a 23-year-old Saudi named Osama bin
Laden to Afghanistan to recruit Muslim fighters and raise
money for an anti-Soviet jihad. Part of that group
eventually became al-Qaida, a terrorist organization that
would declare war on America several times between 1996 and
1998 before attacking us on 9/11, killing more Americans
than the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
On Carter's watch, the Soviet Union went on an
unrestrained rampage in which it took over not only
Afghanistan, but also Ethiopia, South Yemen, Angola,
Cambodia, Mozambique, Grenada and Nicaragua.
In spite of this, Carter's last defense budget proposed
spending 45% below pre-Vietnam levels for fighter aircraft,
75% for ships, 83% for attack submarines and 90% for
helicopters.
Years later, as a civilian, Carter negotiated a peace
agreement with North Korea to keep that communist country
from developing nuclear weapons. He also convinced
President Clinton and Secretary of State Madeleine Albright
to go along with it. But the signed piece of paper proved
worthless. The North Koreans deceived Carter and instead
used our money, incentives and technical equipment to build
nuclear weapons and pose the threat we face today.
Thus did Carter unwittingly become our Neville Chamberlain
, creating with his well-intended but inept, unrealistic and
gullible actions the very conditions that led to the three
most dangerous security threats we face today: Iran,
al-Qaida and North Korea.
On the domestic side, Carter gave us inflation of 15%, the
highest in 34 years; interest rates of 21%, the highest in
115 years; and a severe energy crisis with lines around the
block at gas stations nationwide.
In 1977, Carter, along with a Democrat Congress, created a
worthy project with noble intentionsthe Community
Reinvestment Act. Over strong industry objections, it
mandated that all banks meet the credit needs of their
entire communities.
In 1995, President Clinton imposed even stronger
regulations and performance tests that coerced banks to
substantially increase loans to low-income, poverty-area
borrowers or face fines or possible restrictions on
expansion. These revisions allowed for securitization of
CRA loans containing subprime mortgages.
By 1997, good loans were bundled with poor ones and sold
as prime packages to institutions here and abroad. That
shifted risk from the loan originators, freeing banks to
begin pyramiding and make more of these profitable subprime
products.
Under two young, well-intended presidents, therefore,
big-government plans and mandates played a significant role
in the current subprime mortgage mess and its catastrophic
consequences for the U.S. and international economies.
Hardest-hit by the mortgage foreclosures have been the
citizens that Democrats always claim to help
mostinner-city residents who fell victim to low or no
down payment schemes, unexpected adjustable rates, deceptive
loan applications and commission-hungry salespeople.
Now we're having to bail out at huge cost Fannie Mae and
Freddie Mac, the very agencies that were supposed to
stabilize the system. In time, this should improve the
situation. But the party of Carter and Clinton that
midwifed our mortgage mess now wants to be trusted to take
over and have the government run our entire system of health
care!
And everyone is blaming Bush for our current problems.
The Lack
