Morning Jolt: Jimmy Carter’s Good Intentions Weren’t Enough

TODAY'S JOLT IS SPONSORED BY

WITH JIM GERAGHTY

December 30 2024

Jimmy Carter's Good Intentions Weren't Enough

On the menu today: This will be the last Morning Jolt of 2024; we will return January 2. We end the year by marking the passing of America's 39th president, Jimmy Carter.

The Hard Lesson That Good Intentions Aren't Enough

At 100 years of age, Jimmy Carter outlived a lot of his critics, and in at least one case, his obituary writer.*

The conventional wisdom about Carter might be an oversimplification, but that doesn't mean the gist is wrong. In 1976, having experienced the shock and scandal of Watergate, Americans went to the ballot box and declared they wanted a good man, honest and decent, in the Oval Office — even if he wasn't even 40 years old yet, had only been governor of Georgia for one term, was once an obscure peanut farmer, and his brother was a good old boy best known for drinking beer.

Four years later, Americans returned to the polls and said, "Whoops, we forgot to mention that in ...

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