The Rehabilitation Of Jimmy Carter

Many people regard Jimmy Carter as the worst president in living memory, if not all time. Personally, I give that distinction to Lyndon Johnson, but considering that the Obama presidency has taken on the appearance of Jimmy Carter's on fast forward, it's not surprising that Democrats are trying to rewrite history.

More than a few observers have pointed out that President Obama and the Democrats in Congress seem determined to repeat the errors of the 1970s by returning to inflationary spending, tax increases, auto company bailouts and cuts to the defense budget while coddling dictators who hate America.

So it was inevitable that this recycling effort would get around to attempting the most brazen rehabilitation of all: Jimmy Carter was a visionary president! If only we had listened to him.

It was 30 years ago this month that Mr. Carter reached the nadir of his presidency with his famous "malaise" speech in which he criticized the American people for their materialism and "crisis of confidence." To be fair, Mr. Carter never used the word malaise in his speech (an aide used "malaise" in characterizing the speech to the media the next day), but the label stuck because it so accurately conveyed the substance of his message. Having run for president in 1976 on a slogan of giving us "a government as good as the people," Mr. Carter essentially was saying the people were no good.

Today the malaise speech is being revived as a totem of Mr. Carter's unrecognized greatness and profundity.

At least this isn't as bad as the New York Times' attempt to rehabilitate Adolf Hitler's reputation.