‘Hanging Out With Jimmy Carter,’ Biden Faces the Echoes of History

When President Biden appeared on camera to honor the late President Jimmy Carter, his words seemed to echo a reflection on his own presidency, particularly in its final days.https://wordpress.com/

“Some people today look at Jimmy Carter and see him as a man from a different era—one of honesty, character, faith, and humility,” Biden said on Sunday, cutting short his Caribbean vacation after Carter’s passing. “That mattered. But I don’t believe that era is over.”

Biden, like Carter, has faced criticism for being an old-fashioned politician in a rapidly changing political landscape. Many view him as an octogenarian leader still operating by rules forged in the 1970s, when he served in the Senate alongside Carter in the White House. These rules, critics argue, have not served him well in the current, fast-paced, and combative political environment. He, too, is seen by some as a man out of sync with the times, reminiscent of Carter’s era.

However, Biden rejects this characterization, insisting that the “fundamental human values” his generation introduced are still relevant today. When he highlighted Carter’s “honesty and character,” he seemed to indirectly contrast these qualities with those of his predecessors and future successor, Donald Trump—the first former president convicted of felonies and held accountable for sexual abuse and fraud.

Carter’s passing at this stage of Biden’s presidency brings to mind a certain déjà vu: another one-term Democratic president whose ambitions for a second term were hampered by inflation and challenges related to securing the release of hostages in the Middle East.

Once again, political players in the region might be timing their actions, waiting for Biden’s term to end before negotiating any hostage releases, reminiscent of the 1981 transition from Carter to Ronald Reagan.

“The similarities are striking,” said Richard Moe, Carter’s former chief of staff, on Monday. “I believe there’s something to this comparison.”

While Biden and Carter share many differences, particularly regarding their age and the timing of their departures from the White House—Carter left at 56, while Biden, at 82, faces questions about his ability to serve another term—they have a deep, shared history. “I’ve been friends with Jimmy Carter for over 50 years,” Biden said on Sunday.

Biden was the first Democratic senator to support Carter’s 1976 presidential campaign, and decades later, he became the first sitting president to visit Carter in his hometown of Plains, Georgia, in 2021. Both men have seen themselves as honest brokers in a world full of spin and have evolved from moderate to more progressive over their lifetimes.

Despite their mutual admiration, their relationship hasn’t been without tension. In his 2007 memoir, Biden admitted to regretting his support for Carter. “Jimmy Carter was a man of decency and principle, but it wasn’t enough,” he wrote, recalling a dispute between Carter and European allies. “That was when I realized that on-the-job training for a president could be a risky thing.”

In fact, Biden once considered challenging Carter for the Democratic nomination in 1980. “I campaigned for Carter twice, but I thought he had a dangerous tendency to moralize,” Biden recalled. “I told him, ‘If you thump that Bible one more time, you’re going to lose me too.’”

Carter’s outsider status, never having held office in Washington before becoming president, contrasted sharply with Biden’s half-century career in the capital. Where Carter disdained negotiating with Congress, Biden thrived in it, passing significant domestic legislation on climate change, healthcare, and infrastructure. Yet, while Carter’s ability to perform as president was never questioned, Biden’s age and declining public performances have led to doubts about his ability to run for a second term.

Biden, however, seems to have learned from Carter’s presidency. For example, Carter prioritized the Iran hostage crisis, making it the central focus of his presidency even at the expense of his reelection bid. Biden, by contrast, has worked on securing the release of hostages held by Hamas in Gaza, but has avoided letting it dominate his presidency.

Former Carter aides, like Stuart E. Eizenstat, recognize historical echoes in Biden’s presidency. Eizenstat pointed out the three major factors that contributed to Carter’s defeat in 1980: intra-party conflict, inflation, and the Iran hostage crisis—factors that Biden also faces today.

While inflation was far worse during Carter’s presidency, with a peak of 14% in 1980, Biden’s inflation rate reached 9% earlier in his tenure, hurting his approval among Americans who have little memory of the 1970s economic conditions. Though inflation has since eased, the lingering effects have hurt Biden’s popularity, especially in terms of grocery prices.

The Middle East crisis also mirrors Carter’s experience. Although the Iran hostage crisis was far more politically damaging to Carter, the turmoil in the Middle East under Biden has similarly undermined his leadership image.

“There’s this same sense of presidential impotence—not because they were ineffective, but because they were dealing with intransigent adversaries,” Eizenstat said.

A silver lining for Biden, however, is the trajectory of Carter’s legacy. Once seen as a failed president, Carter’s reputation has improved significantly, now boasting 57% approval in a Gallup poll. It took Carter over four decades to rehabilitate his public image, much of it through humanitarian work and diplomacy, including winning the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002. Biden, being the oldest person to hold the office, faces a much shorter window to cement his legacy.

Eizenstat pointed out, “Carter had a longer post-presidency to rebuild his legacy. Joe won’t have that luxury. But I believe history will treat Biden much more favorably, as it has with Carter, because of his many accomplishments.”

Thus, when Biden says, as he did on Sunday night, that “we’d all do well to try and be a little more like Jimmy Carter,” many of his supporters hope he’s thinking not only of Carter’s virtues but also of how those virtues might shape his own presidency in its final chapter.