Dire Consequences of Obama’s ‘Jimmy Carter Replay’

Christopher Adamo

It was perhaps fitting this last week that former President Jimmy Carter again went public with a continuation of the insipid drivel for which he has become so famous. In an interview on NBC, he asserted that conservative opposition to Barack Obama is undoubtedly the result of racism. Sadly, even in his advanced years, Jimmy Carter is still capable of descending to the same levels of idiocy that he achieved in his “prime.”

More significantly, the intended beneficiary of Carter’s banal commentary, Barack Obama, now holds this nation’s highest office, reminding us all that such a grave national misstep as the election of Jimmy Carter in 1976 can be revisited if its grim lessons are forgotten, as apparently is the case. America inarguably repeated its foolishness at the ballot boxes last November. It is beyond naive to ignore the pattern of similarly disastrous results, many of which are already unfolding with the worst yet to come.

At present, it is unclear whether Barack Obama is actually blind to the dire ramifications that the nation will inevitably reap from his actions, or if he truly intends to inflict such harm on it. What is beyond dispute among thinking Americans is that those bleak outcomes are no surprise, given the past history of playing foolhardy games on the foreign relations front, and the consistently disastrous results that ensued.

Like Obama, Jimmy Carter has always been embarrassed by a vibrant and strong America. Consequently, as its leader he could never muster the inner strength to bear a robust national character in front of the rest of the world. Eventually, his own weakness was perceived as America’s weakness. Not surprisingly, those evil forces that are ever watchful for any occasion to move against it saw a great window of opportunity during the Carter years.

It is notable that during that tumultuous time, with the Cold War raging, Carter’s most significant alteration to America’s military apparatus was the cancellation of the B-1 bomber, thus leaving the nation’s strategic bombing force to struggle along with the antiquated B-52. Such decimation of the military became a defining trait of the Carter presidency.

Few may recall how Carter managed to thoroughly undo the great firewall that had been erected by President Kennedy to prevent the infiltration of Soviet nuclear missiles into the West during the Cuban missile crisis. While Kennedy’s resolve finally forced Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev to back down and agree to the removal of his missiles from Cuba in 1961, in the late 1970s, Leonid Brezhnev who was then leading the USSR felt sufficiently emboldened to re-deploy nuclear missiles in Cuba.

On discovery of the missiles by U.S. intelligence, Carter made a big fuss, characterized their presence as “unacceptable,” and demanded their removal. But Brezhnev had correctly sized up the invertebrate Carter, and simply dismissed any complaints. This proved to be a safe bet. In the end, Carter did nothing against that act of Soviet aggression, which remained in place until the end of the USSR.

Similarly, it was Jimmy Carter who set the stage for the downfall of the Shah of Iran and his pro-Western government, and thereby enabled the inevitable rise of militant Islam in its place. The aftershocks of that fiasco were felt almost immediately in the West, with middle-Eastern oil supplies being curtailed and gasoline prices skyrocketing as a result.

Also, the obvious unwillingness of Carter to engage the Islamist regime of Ayatollah Khomeni energized the movement, and in particular its virulent anti-Americanism, thus instigating the November 1979 invasion of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, and subsequent taking of its American staff as hostages.

More than a year of obsequious and embarrassing “negotiations” by the Carter Administration netted no results; except that the increasingly emboldened Iranians were thoroughly enjoying the advantage they held in the situation. Only upon the election of Ronald Reagan in 1980 and his promise of a harsh response if the matter was not resolved by Inauguration Day, did the Iranians recognize the need to free the hostages.

Ultimately, the total lack of moral and philosophical certitude in the Carter White House, abetted by the criminal incompetence of his staff, left the nation weak and timid in the face of increasingly belligerent Communist and Islamist adversaries. Soviet expansion during the Carter years went unchecked, along with the malignant growth of the modern Islamist/terrorist movement. America has paid, and to this day continues to pay, an awful price for the appalling ineptitude of its “leaders” during those years.

Now, in 2009, America once again finds itself under the “leadership” of an individual who regularly reveals a deep-seated animus towards this nation, its heritage, and its lingering potential to remain a world leader. Clearly following in Carter’s footsteps, Barack Obama is at once creating situations that imperil this nation, while methodically weakening its ability to deal with the crises that will inevitably erupt as a result.

Obama has alienated America’s staunchest allies, such as Great Britain and Israel, while seeking to ingratiate himself to the brutal tyrants and thugs who rule the third world. His willingness to enhance the standing of Venezuelan Marxist Hugo Chávez, while undermining the leaders of Honduras as they attempt to extricate themselves from such a fate, can only portend a burgeoning problem that a free America will eventually have to confront.

Back at home, he wreaks havoc on the national treasury by throwing unfathomable capital at historically unfeasible social programs. In clear “Carteresque” fashion, he concurrently “saves” money by cutting the military budget. This is a particularly foolhardy move, given that the world scene is, by all accounts, increasingly unstable and in particular, growing ever more hostile to America.

Increasing Russian aggression towards former Soviet “Republics” and the wild-eyed dreams among some in the Kremlin to resurrect the old Soviet Union can only be bolstered by Obama’s decision to withdraw America’s missile shield from the Czech Republic and Poland. And just to make the Russians feel sufficiently confident to implement their expansionist plans, Obama has promised to unilaterally make drastic cuts in America’s nuclear arsenal.

A thoroughly weakened America in the “international community,” accompanied by a domestic economy that is in shambles, can only energize those foreign powers that seek to establish hegemony over this nation for the foreseeable future. And it is certain that in their plans, they will make every effort to prevent its reconstitution from the ashes of its current socialist/pacifist ideology.

FamilySecurityMatters.org Contributing Editor Christopher G. Adamo has been active in Wyoming politics for many years and is a managing partner in Best American Buy (www.bestamericanbuy.com), an e-commerce business that markets American made products including the incomparable Abigail Adams Bedspread Set from Bates Mills. Contact information for Chris Adamo, and his archives, can be found at www.chrisadamo.com.