It was almost enough but not quite to elicit a twinge of sympathy for the 39th president of the United States.
In addition to his HBO show that airs Friday nights, comic Bill Maher posts on "Overtime" segment on YouTube that's often worth checking out, as was the case this weekend.
Maher asked one of his guests, New Yorker staff writer Lawrence Wright, about a play he's written, Camp David, on the grueling negotiations between President Jimmy Carter, Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin and Egyptian President Anwar Sadat at the presidential retreat in Maryland in September 1978.
Maher sounded surprised by Wright's description of Carter's presidency as "failing" at that point (around 9:40 in the embedded video) --
WRIGHT: If you look at Camp David -- Carter, Begin, Sadat -- you had a failing president. Anwar Sadat ...
MAHER: At the time, Carter was failing ...
WRIGHT (appearing perplexed that anyone would challenge this): Yeah, I mean, you know, stagflation, all the gas lines ...
MAHER (coming around): Yeah, stagflation ...WRIGHT: ... the farmers with their tractors in the ... (crosstalk) ... So he started out with very high poll numbers and they just were ski-sloped down.
While Carter is widely regarded as a lackluster president, it's still surprising to hear his tenure in office described as "failing" -- especially from a staff writer at the stolidly liberal New Yorker -- so early in his administration. By the time the three leaders met at Camp David, Carter had been president little more than a year and a half. After his infamous "malaise" speech the following summer, followed by Iranian militants seizing Americans hostage in November 1979 and the Soviets invading Afghanistan a month later, only die-hard apologists could deny that Carter was in over his head.
Having conceded Wright's point, Maher rushes to Carter's defense --
MAHER: Now, Jimmy Carter gets s**t on so much, what a ballsy guy. And the only president who didn't fire a shot ever in office.
What a coincidence, that's how the Iranians saw Carter too ... Sure it's risky if we seize the American embassy, but not to worry, Carter won't fire a shot!
Lesley Stahl of 60 Minutes puts in a good word for Carter too --
STAHL: And he brought the hostages home, and they all lived.
More accurately, Carter's ineptitude allowed the hostages to become hostages in the first place, seven months after a fanatical Islamic regime seized control of Iran and began denouncing the "Great Satan" on a daily basis --
STAHL: Well, they waited because, deliberately, but he didn't keep, by just being calm and not taking any ...
Just as you've long suspected, Stahl struggles without a script. Does anyone beyond the hallowed halls at 60 Minutes actually believe that the hostages get sprung at noon on Jan. 20, 1981 -- if Carter won re-election? The catalyst for their release was Reagan's looming presidency, not Carter's ending. It took Carter 14 months to free the hostages, it took Reagan all of 14 minutes.
The hagiographic swooning was more than left-wing activist Van Jones could bear --
JONES: He tried to fire a shot, he just missed! (alluding to the failed rescue mission, 36 years ago yesterday, that cost the lives of eight servicemen). But anyway, other than that (... how was the play, Mrs. Lincoln ...?), I love Jimmy Carter.
MAHER: The helicopter crashed and, you know, when Obama went to get bin Laden, he said, huh, let's send an extra helicopter. Pretty bad-ass.
Assuming this is true, Obama wasn't the first president to learn from Carter's debacle in the desert. Several years ago I heard former New York Times reporter Richard Reeves speak at the Kennedy Library in Boston about his just-released biography of Reagan.
During preparations for the invasion of Grenada in 1983, Reagan asked one of his military advisers how many helicopters would be used. The adviser had also served under Carter, Reeves told the audience. After the adviser answered Reagan's question, Reagan ordered that twice as many choppers be deployed. If Carter had done that in Iran, Reagan said, as recounted by Reeves, you'd be giving this briefing to him and not to me.
