The 39th POTUS Jimmy Carter was born on this day in 1924 making him 88 years old today.

Ten Notes On POTUS Jimmy Carter

1. He is now the POTUS who has lived the longest since leaving office. He left office 31 years 8 months ago. Herbert Hoover had held the record. Carter set the new record last month. His Vice Daddy Walter “Fritz” Mondale is still living also. The Carter/Mondale team has the record for longest POTUS and Vice President living longest after their term was up.

2. Jimmy Carter was the first POTUS born in a hospital. He was born in the small town of Plains, Georgia. Carter was the oldest of four children. From an early age he had a fondness for reading. I share a similar habit with my least favourite POTUS. We both annoy others by reading while we are eating. The first time I’d ever heard of Jimmy Carter was when he was the Governor of Georgia. I remember him being introduced before the game when Henry Aaron broke the Ruthrecord. A guy with a big goofy looking smile was my first impression. Who would have known what we were in for.

3. Jimmy Carter was a former one-term Governor of Georgia when he ran for POTUS. He was considered a long-shot but he was an outsider to Washington and that was a tremendous help to his chances. After the Nixon resignation and the pardon of Nixon by POTUS Ford in September 1974, the United States was looking for someone different, someone who seemed clean of the mess in Washington. He had a big smile going for him. He didn’t say much during the campaign on the issues. After getting the Democratic nomination he had a huge lead over POTUS Jerry Ford but the lead gradually dwindled down to the point where on Election Day it was a toss up.  Carter held on and won by 2 % of the vote and by a margin of 297 to 240 in the Electoral College. It wasn’t until 3:30am the morning after the election that Carter was projected the winner by the networks. Ford had nearly overcome his campaign of blunders and won. The thinking is if the election had been held a week later POTUS Ford would have won.  If Ford hadn’t pardoned Nixon there is no doubt in my mind [or in POTUS Ford’s} that he would have won.

4. As POTUS Carter’s big problem wasn’t the Republican’s in Congress but his own party. He got off on the wrong foot. He came to Washington and surrounded himself with fellow Georgians who had no clue what they were doing. He was arrogant and looked at Congress as being filled with a bunch of hacks. He had a Democratic Congress to work with too. Tip O’Neill and Carter did not see eye to eye on much.

5. Some President’s have great speeches to be remembered by. Jimmy Carter has the infamous “Malaise Speech” that he gave on July 15th, 1979. It was a downer. He talked about American’s having a crisis of confidence. Yes, they did have a crisis in the confidence of the leadership or lack of leadership coming out of the White House. The speech has been called the “Malaise Speech” even though the word “Malaise” was never used. Below are key parts of that downer of a speech.

‘I want to talk to you right now about a fundamental threat to American democracy. . . . I do not refer to the outward strength of America, a nation that is at peace tonight everywhere in the world, with unmatched economic power and military might. The threat is nearly invisible in ordinary ways. It is a crisis of confidence. It is a crisis that strikes at the very heart and soul and spirit of our national will. We can see this crisis in the growing doubt about the meaning of our own lives and in the loss of a unity of purpose for our nation. . . .

In a nation that was proud of hard work, strong families, close-knit communities, and our faith in God, too many of us now tend to worship self-indulgence and consumption. Human identity is no longer defined by what one does, but by what one owns. But we’ve discovered that owning things and consuming things does not satisfy our longing for meaning….

I’m asking you for your good and for your nation’s security to take no unnecessary trips, to use  carpools or public transportation whenever you can, to park your car one extra day per week, to obey the speed limit, and to set your thermostats to save fuel…. I have seen the strength of America in the inexhaustible resources of our people. In the days to come, let us renew that strength in the struggle for an energy-secure nation.”

6. Thankfully POTUS Carter never had an opening to fill on the U.S. Supreme Court. He is the last POTUS who didn’t have an opening.

7.When I think of the Carter Presidency I think of: The hostage crisis in Iran, double digit inflation,high interest rates, slow economic growth, the energy crisis, boycotting the 1980 Moscow Summer Olympics, the failed hostage rescue attempt, recession, it goes on and on.

8, “A recession is when your neighbor loses his job, a depression is when you lose your job, recovery is when Jimmy Carter loses his job’- Ronaldus Magnus 1980. One thing I haven’t heard in the past 32 years, not once, not even by my friends who are ‘yellow dog democrats” “I wish we had Jimmy Carter back” I’d vote for Obama over Carter, Carter was THAT bad. History’s greatest monster as The Simpson’s said.

9. Jimmy Carter has spent the past 32 years trying to rehabilitate his image. He could live another 32 years and its not going to happen. As awful a president as he was, he has been even worse as an ex-POTUS. He isn’t the worst POTUS ever, James Buchanan was but Carter is on the Mt. Rushmore of Terrible POTUS. Carter stands alone though as the worst ex POTUS. He needs to stick to the one thing he is good at, buidling houses.

10. My favourite election night ever was 1980 when Ronaldus Magnus beat Carter like a rented mule.

OK I will say something nice about him. Supposedly Carter is a big Dylan fan. Also, his brother Billy was pretty cool and yes, he is great at building houses.