Category Archives: Jimmy Carter
Pipeline Shakedown
Cyber-hackers, known as DarkSide, broke into the Colonial Pipeline’s computer system. Once inside they encrypted the operating system and held the company hostage. That was a big deal because Colonial pumps refined fuel from the Gulf to the eastern United States. Gas prices immediately skyrocketed and people lined up 1970s style. Some stations even had to shut down. Joe Biden put on a cardigan sweater and told people to turn down their thermostats. Ok, it didn’t get that bad. But it was bad enough that Colonial paid DarkSide a $4.4 million ransom to get back on line.
Thousands of trucks had tried to carry the load for Colonial but Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, a Democrat and former governor of Michigan, said pipelines are the best way to move oil and gas. That was a big deal too because Green New Dealers love to shut down pipelines. In fact, one of President Cardigan’s first acts in office was to kill the Keystone XL pipeline.
The current Michigan Governor, Gretchen Whitmer, also a Democrat, didn’t get her predecessor’s message either. She’s demanding that the Enbridge pipeline which passes underwater from the UP to the lower peninsula shut down immediately. And she’s threatening to take all the pipeline’s revenue if the company doesn’t obey her.
Bush Funeral All About Humility
Click on someone humble to enlarge the image.
The funeral for President George H. W. Bush was beautiful, and informative. W’s eulogy was touching.
I drew Bush 41 a lot, and felt like I understood him pretty well as a goofy but decent guy. And I was aware of of his other virtues like integrity, kindness, courage, high speed golfing and fishing, airplane jumping and lip reading. But hearing the speakers, all of whom were close to him and loved him, one virtue seemed to stand out – humility. Maybe that’s because it’s a rare commodity these days, especially in Washington. Anyway, former Senator Alan Simpson nailed it in his warm and witty eulogy:
Those who crave the high road of humility in Washington , DC are not bothered by heavy traffic.
Then the camera panned to President Trump and the past presidents the front row and, well, this cartoon idea kind of jumped out.
It’s not often you get a pack of presidents together in one shot. So I try to make the most of it. Here’s a cartoon I drew when they gathered for Nixon’s funeral.
Click a president to enlarge the image.
Maybe I’ll do the Bush bunch pondering, “If Perot hadn’t run…”
I know. I left Jimmy Carter out of the humility cartoon. It’s not the first time.
Click a football helmet or the lump on President Ford’s head to enlarge the image.
Norms Have Changed
In a PBS interview Bill Clinton pined for the old days. He griped that norms have changed. And you can’t have your way with people against their will anymore.
Norms
Well, as Jimmy Carter used to say, “life ain’t fair.”
Men in Green
I Googled Obama-Robin Hood and got 10,400,000 links . Obama-Peter Pan brought 1,800,000. Obama-Fantasy was good for 51,600,000.
I’m guessing he’s one of the men in green.
The popular Robin Hood story is that he steals from the rich and gives to the poor. Except the real Robin Hood – the legend anyway- stole from the Sheriff of Nottingham who taxed the poor.
In that story President Obama wouldn’t be Robin Hood. He’d be the Sheriff of Nottingham, except he taxes the rich. Well, the poor too if you want to get into the Obama Care weeds.
He’s obsessed with fairness. In 2008 Charlie Gibson pointed out that when Clinton and Bush cut the capital gains tax, revenues increased. He asked Obama if he would increase the capital gains tax even if it meant less revenue to the government. The future president said he would – in the interest of fairness.
Dan Henninger in Thursday’s WSJ Wonder Land column wondered about fairness:
Other than the president, the one other slice of the American population that obsesses over fairness everywhere is children. Every parent knows that about the age of four, kids in groups start saying, “That’s not fair.”
If you have a birthday party and cut pieces of the cake for all, one of them will say, “Her piece is bigger than mine. Why is she getting a bigger piece? That’s not fair.”
And parents, ever since Adam and Eve left the Garden of Eden, have felt obliged to instruct their children on the reality. Life isn’t going to be “fair.” And the path into the future requires more than envy, tantrums and grabbing what belongs to others.
Cradle-to-grave fairness may be infantile, but the idea lives on, especially in politics and most of all in Mr. Obama’s mind.
Even Jimmy Carter knows life’s not fair.
Anyway, in President Obama’s mind it doesn’t matter if he’s Robin Hood or Peter Pan. We’ll always be the serfs.
Attack Rabbit Presidency
President Obama doesn’t have a strategy. The Washington Post editorial board calls him the “can’t do president“.
One thing the president can do is raise funds. He’s spending his holiday week-end doing just that for Democrats. He’s not alone on the fundraising circuit. Jimmy Carter will be hosting Hamas at a dinner in Detroit with the Islamic Society of America.
Beware the Attack Rabbit
Jimmy Carter’s troubled presidency jumped the shark when an attack rabbit evaded security and tried to whack him in a fishing boat. John Kass in the Chicago Tribune thinks Obama has reached the bunny hop threshold. (Here’s a link but you may have to subscribe.)
