Louisiana's Bobby Jindal, at a Republican Governors Association news conference this week:
President Obama is clearly the most liberal president we’ve had. You’d literally have to go back to Jimmy Carter’s years in the White House, back in the 1970s, to match the liberal ideology, to match the incompetence.
This is, as they say, a free country, so everyone has a right to interpret "incompetence" as they see it. But contemplate the egregious history in Mr. Jindal's comments. Obama "is clearly the most liberal president we've had" -- which knocks the founders of the New Deal and Great Society down one ideological peg, at least; then to confuse matters, Jindal asserts that Obama is equal in liberalism to conservative Democratic president Jimmy Carter.
Which is it?
Is Jindal actually unaware of what the 1980 Kennedy-Carter primary battle was all about? -- as Jules Witcover put it in his history of the Democratic Party, that "New Dealers ... abhorred Carter's lack of passion for the old party commitment to government as an engine of aggressive and imaginative change"? Or does Jindal merely believe that since his base mindlessly believes that Carter was a flaming liberal, by virtue of his party label alone, then why tamper with their atrocious history?
The most peculiar aspect of Jindal's revisionism, settled among the vastness of GOP revisionism, is that it accomplishes only two things: 1) a few buffoons in the GOP base let loose a Hurrah! and 2) it becomes yet another laughingstock item to everyone else.
Why do they do this to themselves? There ain't no future in it.
Carter deregulated more industries than Reagan: e.g., oil, gas, trucking, airlines, etc.
Posted by: Robert Lipscomb | February 28, 2012 at 02:31 PM
I'm tempted to agree with you except I'm not sure what to expect from a mob of unfed buffoons.
Posted by: Peter G | February 28, 2012 at 02:43 PM
He also equates "liberal ideology" with incompetence. So I guess that means FDR was incompetent.
Posted by: priscianus jr | February 28, 2012 at 02:50 PM
I thought Carter was one of our most "conservative" Democratic Presidents...but that was way before the conservatives were high-jacked by the moronic group now leading them.
Posted by: SueMe | February 28, 2012 at 03:28 PM
Simple, really: The evil incompetent LIBERAL DEMONCRAT Carter was defeated by Saint Ronny the Reagan, bringer of righteousness and justice and AMERICA F YEAH! Therefore the evil incompetent LIBERAL DEMONCRAT Carter embodied all that is evil and incompetent about the evil incompetent LIBERAL DEMONCRATS.
Here endeth today's reading from the Holy Scriptures of God's Own Party.
Posted by: Janicket | February 28, 2012 at 04:08 PM
PM, your mention of Jules Witcover reminds me to ask you, would you consider now and again doing some reading lists? Classifying them however you wish ("essential reading on US politics" or "what I'm reading" or whatever). I always find them immensely useful.
Posted by: John Haas | February 29, 2012 at 08:36 AM