Did anybody else know that Jimmy Carter is still alive? It looks like I owe my friends twenty bucks, because between all that work for Habitats for Humanity and the fact that he's, y'know, 85 years old, I figured he was already dead. Well, imagine my surprise when I saw him on Jon Stewart the other night, alive and denying that he was ever involved in witchcraft.
In his Daily Show appearance, Carter mentions that his position back in the day was very similar to the position of the Tea Party today. More specifically, the words he wrote in his journal channeled the same basic feeling which drives the Tea Party today. I find that hard to believe for two reasons, one of which is simply that the Tea Party is...what's the word I'm looking for? "Batshit insane"?
I'm going to up and confess that I'm not a very political man. However, I do have some understanding of the inner workings of our political leaders. For instance, our former President Clinton was the womanizing yet somewhat competent one, and then came the crook, George W. himself. Or as I like to call him, "batshit insane." Or possibly "living proof that appointment to any public office should come with an I.Q. test. And a lie detector test. And the understanding that the Secret Service will make you 'disappear' if you screw up badly enough."
Then, on the heels of the crook's presidency came the celebrity, the overhyped Obama, whose fire from that 2008 campaign so long ago has pretty much fizzled out by now, and who will spend the rest of his life building homes for the homeless to redeem himself from the aftertaste of the recession and this whole health care thing I can't even begin to give you the specifics of.
Honestly, I would say that Carter has more in common with Obama than anything. In case the whole "crook" parallel I've drawn between Tricky Dick and George W. (who may or may not have been a puppet of the other Dick) and my subtle comment about Obama's future career prospects aren't enough of a clue, consider the respective campaigns of Obama and Carter. One was a relative unknown on the political scene, having just entered his first campaign for president on the basis of his personality more than any significant political achievement, and pulled out a surprise victory against more established opponents thanks to a highly grassroots effort.
The other did largely the same thing, with possibly even less experience in the political arena, and went on to become our first black President.
Now you're probably thinking, "But-but-but, Carter is so...white!" Well, I said Carter and Obama were campaigning on personality, not the same personality. Of course, there are similarities between their respective situations. Both were able to channel the general disgust the public had with the political status quo, and both candidates, as Wikipedia says on Jimmy's behalf, had "the acceptance and support of elite sectors of the mass communications media."
Their respective personalities and support bases, though, are where the similarities end. Obama was where our former, dumb Texan, Bible-thumpin', war-mongering ex-President Bush ended and where the young people's campaign began. The fact that he was our first black President is admittedly significant. However, no one can understate how much sway he held over the youngest, first-time, MTV-generation voters, with his rock music and his rap music and his iPods and his mad B-ball skills and his utter disgust with the political institutions (and Kanye West) and his ability to articulate a complete freaking sentence without that Southern drawl that can be found in many a George Dubya impersonator.
Carter's campaign, on the other hand, was when America returned to what I just lovingly called a "Bible-thumpin' " president. Despite many districts already essentially being in the pockets of his opponents, Carter was able to build up a support base consisting of voters in the once Wallace-dominated South and conservative Christians and rural residents in the Northern states. His public persona was one and the same as the conservative Christians giving their votes (and prayers) to him; in a CBN interview, he stated his belief in both divine and "legal" law, while asserting that "we should honor God's law" first and foremost. In fact, the father of the late Reverend King himself proclaimed that God had "sent Jimmy Carter to come on out and bring America back where she belongs." (Ironically, while such hero worship is not new to Obama, there was a time when his opponents implied he was the anti-Christ. Seriously.)
The rest, of course, is a history of Habitats for Humanity and a...oh, what was it?...nine percent jobless rate, respectively. As you read that last sentence, you might have noticed that one of those things is not like the other. Granted, Carter has had three decades to work for the benefit of mankind, while our latest President has eight years worth of Bush to fix...
As always, there is a lesson to learn from this. Perhaps it's that history is doomed to repeat itself, barring all other variables. Or that the charisma of even the most charming and eloquent candidate will pull a Peter Pan and fly the coop as soon as they realize how tough the job actually is. Or that we should judge a man not by the color of his skin, or even by the content of his character, but by whether or not he's qualified to run the most powerful nation on earth.
Or perhaps it's that we don't need a hero, or a messiah, or a celebrity, or someone we could imagine hanging out and grabbing a drink with. What we need is a president.
Imagine that.
Note: The opinions of The Brewsky are in no way those of Fox News or its affiliates. Although, to be honest, we had no clue Obama was supposed to be the anti-Christ. And no clue that Jimmy Carter was involved in witchcraft. Luckily, we did our own research beforehand and realized Jimmy Carter was still alive. The Brewsky is clearly a master of wit, rhetoric, and seduction, but he is such a sucker for bets.
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