Somebody cruel asked former President Carter what his biggest failure was. His answer? “I guess my biggest failure was not getting re-elected.”
Which sort of misses the point, doesn’t it? Because from what I dimly remember of the time period – and have read since – Carter didn’t lose because of the hostages, or because of the malaise, or because of the stagflation, or even because of the killer rabbit. He lost because he was… well, Jimmy Carter. It was a package deal, in other words.
Moe Lane
PS: Also from that interview: “I did the best I could, but I failed.”
(pause)
“You did the best that you could” is what we tell our children in order to keep them from despairing at ever learning how to master the skill of winning, Mr. President. In an adult such excuse-making is highly unseemly.
If the plan was to drive the country off a cliff, not getting another four years of Jimmeh’s special brand of malaise was surely a setback to all that
And what a shame the next guy was so hell bent on fixing it
“Losers whine about ‘their best’. Winners go home and f*** the prom queen.”