Althouse: "Correction: A previous version of this post suggested that the real-life Jimmy Carter would never have recommended the Allman Brothers."

October 23, 2014

"Correction: A previous version of this post suggested that the real-life Jimmy Carter would never have recommended the Allman Brothers."

"In fact, he had a close relationship with the band."

Appended to "Obama and the End of Greatness," by Jeff Shesol, in The New Yorker.

37 comments:

Skeptical Voter said...: Jeff "Sheshol"--the name suggests what he's full of--offers another apologia for Obama. And then he offers up FDR as the "last great President".

I'm not certain whether I'd use the term "great" with FDR--but even though he lived in a wheelchair, he's got a leg up on Obama's performance as it were.

FDR believed he could outnegotiate and outthink Josef Stalin. He was mistaken in that belief, and FDR is at least partially responsible for the Cold War.; 10/23/14, 2:04 PM
RecChief said...: It's hard to put down the bong I guess. Or walk away from the cult.; 10/23/14, 2:05 PM
Wilbur said...: I did not watch Ken Burns' series on the Roosevelts. I already knew he would have his kneepads on.; 10/23/14, 2:19 PM
Shanna said...: Instead, to quell our Ebola freak-out, Obama “hugged and kissed … a couple of the nurses” at a hospital in Atlanta, which, really, is an assignment Joe Biden could have taken.

Ha!

Duane Allman was an amazing guitar player, btw. I adore the aretha version of the weight.; 10/23/14, 2:22 PM
Peter said...: " Despite the grand hopes and hype of the 2008 campaign, this tempering of ambitions, this recognition—and acceptance—of the constraints on Presidential power has been a leitmotif of the Obama Presidency."

It's not the officeholder's limitations that limit his greatness, it's the limitations of the office?; 10/23/14, 2:34 PM
RecChief said...: Duane Allman was an amazing guitar player, btw

"Whipping Post" was a gateway drug; 10/23/14, 2:36 PM
Wince said...: What the skit captures is the suspension of disbelief at the start of most Presidencies—that moment when a good number of Americans are able to convince themselves that we might be in the presence of a great man, and that his greatness will be manifest.

Perhaps one of the greatest SNL sketches did the opposite, and predicted the demise of cerebral yet detached liberal.

"I don't have a Chinaman's chance of winning this election. I'm going to be beaten. Badly beaten."

Dukakis After Dark; 10/23/14, 2:40 PM
Bob R said...: The New Yorker seems to be in need of another great Dan Ackroyd quote, "It wasn't a lie! It was just ... bullshit."; 10/23/14, 2:45 PM
mikee said...: James Earl Carter - the US President who never met a totalitarian he didn't like, who accepted an attack taking over a US embassy as NOT an act of war, who still believes he, rather than Sadat and Begin, settled the ownership of the Sinai, should do what he did at the 1984 & 1988 Democratic National Conventions, and remain seated silently at the back of the hall, the unloved bastard at the wedding feast.; 10/23/14, 2:48 PM
Nonapod said...: that moment when a good number of Americans are able to convince themselves that we might be in the presence of a great man

That right there is a human failing. There is an assumption that we need a "great man" to lead us. People on both the left and the right can succumb to this notion, but generally it occurs much more on the left. People who look for idyllic messianic characters are asking for trouble and are doomed to disappointment.

If you look too closely at most of the people who are considered the great figures in history you're going to find a lot of flaws with them.

Generally the best you can hope for in a leadership position is someone who doesn't screw things up too badly.; 10/23/14, 2:52 PM
Henry said...: A perfectly rational article. The only surprising thing about it is that someone thinks it needs to be said.

Part of the problem his devotees have in accepting Obama's mediocrity in the face of events is that it means accepting the same of George W. Bush. The rain falls on hero and antihero alike.

The fact that the exercise of presidential power is characterized by expediency; that it is hemmed in by sclerotic bureaucracies; that its failure in omnipotence is paralleled by its failure in omniscience; all these hold true for both the failed prophet and the bedraggled scapegoat he drove into the wilderness.; 10/23/14, 3:05 PM
Saint Croix said...: wow, the hero-worship in that article is really freaky.

in particular this line jumped out at me

his greatness will be manifest

It's just a weird way to talk about an elected official. It's more the way you might talk about a deity.

One of the most significant and under-acknowledged accomplishments of F.D.R. was his refusal to assume dictatorial powers in 1933, despite calls for him to do so.

yes, it must be very hard for these gods who walk among us to resist the urge to seize all power.

geez; 10/23/14, 3:12 PM
Brando said...: "FDR believed he could outnegotiate and outthink Josef Stalin. He was mistaken in that belief, and FDR is at least partially responsible for the Cold War."

FDR did a lot he should be ashamed of when it comes to Stalin. Though I'm not an FDR fan, I'll note two things in his defense:

1) Like Churchill, he was primarily focused on the enemy at hand and correctly judged that if Stalin made a separate peace with Hitler, we would have had a much longer, bloodier war that itself could have ended with a cold war type stalemate.

2) While it would have been nice for FDR to have stood up for the Poles and other Stalin victims, it's hard to imagine what leverage he could have had. Sure, he could cut off aid to Stalin or even threaten hostilities after the Germans were beaten, but the Soviets were very much running the show in Eastern Europe as the war neared its end. I can't picture him being able to do much beyond lodging a protest at that point.; 10/23/14, 3:17 PM
Brando said...: So which presidents were close to Skynyrd?; 10/23/14, 3:18 PM
Shanna said...: One of the most significant and under-acknowledged accomplishments of F.D.R. was his refusal to assume dictatorial powers in 1933, despite calls for him to do so.

Yes, he only broke the protocol of every president before him by running for office more than 2 times - I guess because he thought he was the only one who could do it - and then died in office.

Congratulations for not making yourself dictator, though! Honestly.; 10/23/14, 3:25 PM
RecChief said...: "FDR did a lot he should be ashamed of when it comes to Stalin."

Having a communist as your right hand man didn't help.; 10/23/14, 3:27 PM
Fernandinande said...: Saint Croix said...
wow, the hero-worship in that article is really freaky.

Especially picking the worst presidents as subjects of worship; I guess some people love totalitarian internal wars and mass poverty caused by idiotic economic fantasies. Takes all kinds...; 10/23/14, 3:27 PM
garage mahal said...: Carter is last good president we've had.; 10/23/14, 3:34 PM
RecChief said...: garage mahal said...
Carter is last good president we've had.

oh come on man, if you're going to troll effectively you have to throw something out that is somewhat possible in a tin foil hat kinda way. Leading with an obvious joke will only get laughs. try harder.; 10/23/14, 3:40 PM
NotWhoIUsedtoBe said...: I'm not sure what FDR was supposed to do for eastern Europe. In March 1945 the Red Army was on the Oder and we were on the Rhine. What were we supposed to do, fight the Russians?

The real reason things turned out the way they did was that the Western Allies were stopped for six months (Sept. 1944-March 1945) on the border of Germany. That was a military failure. In the same time frame the Russians jumped from Warsaw to the Oder river east of Berlin. They almost took Berlin in February.

So, I don't fault FDR for the postwar division of Europe. That was decided largely by the facts on the ground, who took what from Germany in 1945. If we'd pushed harder in 1944 we might have gotten a better settlement, but it's hard to see American forces getting much farther than the Elbe anyway. Collapse on the West would have led to collapse on the East, and the Soviets would not have sat idle.; 10/23/14, 3:41 PM
m stone said...: "It's not the officeholder's limitations that limit his greatness, it's the limitations of the office?"

Both. Obama could have distinguished himself and risen above the office with moderation and conciliation, two areas he clearly despises.

Either accomplishment would earn people's respect even if he could not meet the job requirements.

I'd like to find one area or incident where Obama acted both passionately and maturely. Still looking.; 10/23/14, 3:41 PM
The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...: "Carter is last good president we've had"

I always figured Yoda was a Democrat. Much fear, my ass.; 10/23/14, 3:46 PM
RecChief said...: That was decided largely by the facts on the ground, who took what from Germany in 1945.

I have to disagree. The partition of Europe was largely decided at the Yalta Conference. Roosevelt acceded to Stalin in Europe in exchange for the Soviets joining the war against Japan...which they never really did.; 10/23/14, 3:47 PM
Left Bank of the Charles said...: "[W]e should probably stop knocking him for not being Lincoln ... Or for not being Roosevelt, or Lyndon Baines Johnson."

When did LBJ become a standard for greatness? I don't know whether to laugh or cry.; 10/23/14, 4:03 PM
sean said...: It would seem very fair to knock Obama for not being Reagan. That is, in fact, what most of his academic partisans--and he himself, as I recall--aspired to when he took office. But Obama's enemies will not be referring in 20 years to the "Age of Obama" the way Reagan's enemies, from Sean Wilentz to Matt Yglesias, refer to the "Age of Reagan."; 10/23/14, 4:45 PM
traditionalguy said...: Carter is an amazing creation of the small town Southern Baptist political power aristocrats.

He is so stuck up that he seriously claims the drunken Allman Brothers as his best buds, along with any Muslims whose feelings got hurt every time they sent another army to exterminate the Israeli Jews and lost to them hands down.; 10/23/14, 5:09 PM
George M. Spencer said...: Had something to with the guy who owned Capricorn Records, didn't it? Wasn't he a fund raiser?

Jimmy wasn't wastin' time no more.; 10/23/14, 5:24 PM
JamesB.BKK said...: Roosevelt sent Jews to Germany, stole the wealth of the American people (their gold), and intervened in the affairs of and curtailed liberties of Americans to favor political friends (the last still burdens us). Unforgivable acts.; 10/23/14, 6:45 PM
eddie willers said...: Carter is last good president we've had.

Even garage had to chuckle as he clicked Publish Your Comment on that howler.

BTW....for the short years Duane was alive, the Allman Brothers were the best band in the world.; 10/23/14, 7:43 PM
NotWhoIUsedtoBe said...: Yalta was in February 1945, by which time the Soviets were on the Oder and the US Army was on the Rhine.

Like I said, facts on the ground.; 10/23/14, 8:05 PM
Anonymous said...: Why shouldn't we blame Obama for not being LBJ? He's got the ears for it.; 10/23/14, 10:12 PM
Anonymous said...: One of the most significant and under-acknowledged accomplishments of G.W.B. was his refusal to send teams of ninja assassins after all the Democrats in Congress.; 10/23/14, 10:14 PM
cubanbob said...: Paul Zrimsek said...
One of the most significant and under-acknowledged accomplishments of G.W.B. was his refusal to send teams of ninja assassins after all the Democrats in Congress.

10/23/14, 10:14 PM"

W really screwed up on that. How much better things would have been if he had thrown the trash out.; 10/24/14, 12:08 AM
Anonymous said...: My opinion of Mr Obama is certainly very low today. But its pretty much unchanged since 2007. A casual reading of his bio at that time indicated that he had accomplished nothing, and apparently been given everything. As for this writer's positing the surpassing greatness of FDR: I thought Ronald Reagan was pretty good.; 10/24/14, 12:39 AM
Tank said...: It's hard to imagine Duane Allman and Jimmy Carter spending any time together without "Jimmy" getting an ice pick in his eye.

RIP Duane.

I believe the Brothers are closing out "their" (most of the originals are gone already) career at the Beacon this week.; 10/24/14, 7:49 AM
LordSomber said...: This reminds me of the apocryphal tale of Gregg Allman, playing at a Jimmy Carter benefit in Georgia (Macon?) in the 70's, was wheeled out on stage wasted, where he proceeded to vomit all over his keyboard and pass out face down.; 10/24/14, 9:35 PM
socally773 said...: Best Allman Brothers moment; driving in Utah at sunset and the white mountains turned pink and Live at the Fillmore cranked on our 8 track. Best Carter moment... Election Day 1980- and the next day I felt like the only one who voted for Reagan as I entered Roosevelt University.; 10/25/14, 10:44 PM