Worst Democratic President of the 20th Century

[LabourJersey]

This is a tangent, but Carter is an odd case when you actually examine his Presidency. He had by far the worst and least competent staff/inner circle that a modern President had, before Trump.

The "Georgia Mafia," were, to put it mildly, a bunch of inexperienced, arrogant good ol' boys who knew nothing about Washington or really about politics, and just by happenstance and luck joined Carter's run for Governor. Carter relying on them, and them as a whole (he didn't even have a chief of staff for two years!) was an absolutely horrendous decision that crippled his presidency. The Georgia mafia was also quite weird for being more conservative than Carter himself, which is an unusual dynamic for the staff of a Democratic president versus the President himself. Pat Caddell (A Trump guy at the end of his life) was the main advocate of the malaise speech. I personally think if Carter has somehow who wasn't a 27 year old neophyte advising him, that speech would have been a lot more polished and remembered less harshly.

Long story short, I contend that had Carter recognized the shortcomings of his inner circle from the get-go, he would have been a much more effective President.

[LabourJersey]

This is a tangent, but Carter is an odd case when you actually examine his Presidency. He had by far the worst and least competent staff/inner circle that a modern President had, before Trump.

The "Georgia Mafia," were, to put it mildly, a bunch of inexperienced, arrogant good ol' boys who knew nothing about Washington or really about politics, and just by happenstance and luck joined Carter's run for Governor. Carter relying on them, and them as a whole (he didn't even have a chief of staff for two years!) was an absolutely horrendous decision that crippled his presidency. The Georgia mafia was also quite weird for being more conservative than Carter himself, which is an unusual dynamic for the staff of a Democratic president versus the President himself. Pat Caddell (A Trump guy at the end of his life) was the main advocate of the malaise speech. I personally think if Carter has somehow who wasn't a 27 year old neophyte advising him, that speech would have been a lot more polished and remembered less harshly.

Long story short, I contend that had Carter recognized the shortcomings of his inner circle from the get-go, he would have been a much more effective President.

Clinton’s first two years were a disaster too and he didn’t really turn things around until the republicans took congress. I just think that the democratic congress by the mid to late 70s were way to entrenched with power that they had sort of become their own entity of itself and it was very hard for a democratic president to control .

Clinton still had pretty meaningful accomplishments in his first two years (FMLA, the Brady Bill, the Assault Weapons Ban, the 1993 Budget Bill) he arguably accomplished more domestic accomplishments in this time than Carter did through his entire term, and Clinton, in the House, arguably had the same entrenched Congress that Carter did. With that in mind, I think if a more politically astute Democrat won in 1976 and had more competent advisors, they would've accomplished a lot more and might've even abet very narrowly held on in 1980.

Yeah I'd totally agree with this. 1977 to 1981 was a period where we really needed a more political astute President, or at least a better advised President, than the Carter that we got.