All posts tagged: Jimmy Carter

Why does Iowa launch the presidential campaign?

Why does Iowa launch the presidential campaign?

Published by skeptic

Iowa assumed its position as the state that votes first for a presidential nominee more than 50 years ago. But its 1972 caucuses didn’t feel very historic. Two folding tables at state Democratic Party headquarters were enough to accommodate all staff and media present. No TV cameras rolled. Results from around the state trickled in on two phone lines because the party didn’t want to pay for a third. Just one person, a then-25-year-old anti-Vietnam War activist who helped engineer the Iowa caucuses, did the counting. “I did borrow a memory calculator to speed up the process,” recalled Richard Bender, now 78, with a laugh. “That was state of the art.” “We did not have any clue how big this was going to get,” he said. So big that the Iowa caucuses became an entrenched part of U.S. politics and launched some unexpected candidates toward the White House. In 1976, Iowa propelled former Georgia Gov. Jimmy Carter, the little-known one-time peanut farmer. In 2008, the state gave Illinois Sen. Barack Obama his first win over …

Iran needs to know US won’t accept its destabilizing actions – POLITICO

Iran needs to know US won’t accept its destabilizing actions – POLITICO

Published by skeptic

contentonly Voiced by artificial intelligence. Mark Kimmitt is a retired U.S. Army brigadier general. He served as assistant secretary of state for political-military affairs and deputy assistant secretary of defense for Middle East affairs under President George W. Bush. On December 23, the Chem Puto tanker was attacked by Iranian drones in the Indian Ocean. This wasn’t a proxy attack by Iranian-backed terrorist groups such as Hamas in Gaza, the Houthis in Yemen or Iranian-backed militias in Iraq. It was a direct attack on international shipping carried out by the Islamic Republic of Iran. Following the attack, British Foreign Secretary David Cameron said it is “incredibly important that . . . Iran receives an incredibly clear message that this escalation will not be tolerated.” And he was right. This attack is clear evidence that Washington’s policy of containment, defense and deterrence to prevent the Gaza war from spreading has been unsuccessful. And before a larger, more deadly attack comes about — as it certainly will — it is time to publicly announce a more assertive …

Feelings and vibes can’t sustain a democracy

Feelings and vibes can’t sustain a democracy

Published by skeptic

This is an edition of The Atlantic Daily, a newsletter that guides you through the biggest stories of the day, helps you discover new ideas, and recommends the best in culture. Sign up for it here. Many Americans—of both parties—have become untethered from reality. When the voters become incoherent, electing leaders becomes a reality show instead of a solemn civic obligation. First, here are three new stories from The Atlantic: National Hypochondria It’s been a stormy Monday on the East Coast, but with all respect to the Carpenters, I happen to like rainy days and Mondays. So I promise that what I am about to say is not the result of the rain or any Monday blues. Millions of American voters appear to have lost their grip on reality. I have been thinking (and writing) about the problem of poorly informed citizens for a long time. Low-information voters are a normal part of the political landscape; in the 21st century, democracies face the added danger of disinformation efforts from authoritarians at home and hostile powers …

How Biden Might Recover – The Atlantic

How Biden Might Recover – The Atlantic

Published by skeptic

A press release that President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign issued last week offered a revealing window into his advisers’ thinking about how he might overcome widespread discontent with his performance to win a second term next year. While the release focused mostly on portraying former President Donald Trump as a threat to legal abortion, the most telling passage came when the Biden campaign urged the political press corps “to meet the moment and responsibly inform the electorate of what their lives might look like if the leading GOP candidate for president is allowed back in the White House.” That sentence probably says as much as any internal strategy memo about how Biden’s team plans to win a second term, especially if the president faces a rematch with Trump. With that exhortation the campaign made clear that it wants Americans to focus as much on what Trump would do with power if he’s reelected as on what Biden has done in office. It’s common for presidents facing public disappointment in their performance to attempt to shift …

Most Americans Are Better Off

Most Americans Are Better Off

Published by skeptic

“Are you better off today than you were four years ago?” That question, first posed by Ronald Reagan in a 1980 presidential-campaign debate with Jimmy Carter, has become the quintessential political question about the economy. And most Americans today, it seems, would say their answer is no. In a new survey by Bankrate published on Wednesday, only 21 percent of those surveyed said their financial situation had improved since Joe Biden was elected president in 2020, against 50 percent who said it had gotten worse. That echoed the results of an ABC News/Washington Post poll from September, in which 44 percent of those surveyed said they were worse off financially since Biden’s election. And in a New York Times/Siena College poll released last week, 53 percent of registered voters said that Biden’s policies had hurt them personally. As has been much commented on (including by me), this gloom is striking when contrasted with the actual performance of the U.S. economy, which grew at an annual rate of 4.9 percent in the most recent quarter, and …

Why Republicans Would Welcome a Biden Challenger

Why Republicans Would Welcome a Biden Challenger

Published by skeptic

This is an edition of The Atlantic Daily, a newsletter that guides you through the biggest stories of the day, helps you discover new ideas, and recommends the best in culture. Sign up for it here. Some Democrats, echoing GOP narratives about Joe Biden’s age, are invested in the idea of challenging the president’s renomination. But how would that actually work? First, here are three new stories from The Atlantic: An Invitation to Chaos You may have heard the news recently that President Joe Biden is old. This has been a rumor whispered in the hallways of power for some time now, but apparently it’s true. Some Democrats, including Representative Dean Phillips of Minnesota, think this means Biden should step aside. “We’re at grave risk of another Trump presidency,” Phillips said recently. “I’m doing this to prevent a return of Donald Trump to the White House.” And by “this,” Phillips means going public with his concerns, and even possibly running against Biden—which isn’t much of a threat, given that Phillips is not exactly a first-tier …