some insight into Carter's unpopularity?

When people were talking about Bush's approval ratings recently it came up that Carter had one of the lowest approval ratings of any recent president. I know that the economy was sometimes struggling during his administration and that he lost alot of popluarity during the hole Iranian hostage crisis, but it still seems like he was a pretty decent president so I was hoping someone who was around during his administration (I'm a Reagan baby) could give me some insight as to why his approval was as low or lower than Bush's. I know I will undoubtedly get some wiseass answers like he was too decent a person to be president but I'm really curious as to what people think.

but my take on it is that it was the Iran hostage thing plus Carter's forward thinking on energy conservation. I think he scared the shit out of a lot of people who weren't ready to handle the truth about America's wastefulness and dependence on oil.

There was "stagflation," that is, high inflation coupled with a weak economy. The high inflations was triggered by the Mid-East oil embargo. And then the Iran hostage situation left the country feeling somewhat impotent. Carter was a good man who came along at the wrong time. I don't know if a different person could have done a better job or not.

A very principled man, who had great vision, and was trust-worthy, honest, and intelligent.

Stagflation was really bad, but Reagan had a bad economy too and he was very popular.

I think the Iran hostage situation showed his biggest flaw as a president and that was he expected others to act as with the same values he did. That lead to him basically being "played" a number of times by the press, his own party, the republicans, and by foreign governments. He really didn't come across as being capable of dealing with a mean nasty world and had a number of high profile embarrassments.

I remember his own cabinet would sometimes be in open revolt against him publicly (can you imagine a republican president allowing that?). It all made him look way in over his head and the Iran hostage crisis was the straw that broke the patience of the American public.

times that Carter will go down in history as one of our greatest presidents.

"Carter's presidency saw the creation of two cabinet-level departments: the Department of Energy and the Department of Education. He established a national energy policy,<1> removed price controls from domestic petroleum production,<2> and advocated for less American reliance on foreign oil sources. He bolstered the Social Security system by introducing a staggered increase in the payroll tax. In foreign affairs, Carter pursued the Camp David Accords, the Panama Canal Treaties and the second round of SALT. He explicitly identified the support of basic human rights as a critical component of American foreign policy.<3> The final year of his term was dominated by the Iran hostage crisis, during which the United States struggled to rescue diplomats and American citizens held hostage in Tehran. Subsequently, Carter lost the 1980 presidential election to Republican Ronald Reagan.

After leaving office, Carter founded the Carter Center to promote global health, democracy and human rights. He has traveled extensively to monitor international elections, conduct peace negotiations and establish relief efforts. As of 2007, he is the earliest living president and the second-oldest living president."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_Carter

everyone was mad at Jimmy Carter because some big company called OPEC wouldn't sell the US any oil. It seemed to me that people should be mad at this OPEC thing, not the President...*shrugs*

We'd been through a load of bullshit, and people expected the new leaders to fix it right now, and it didn't happen. Instead, we got high gas prices (like 63 cents per gallon), and few realized or cared that there wasn't much the "energy president" could do about that. And then there was the hostage thing, which, as stated herein, made us feel weak. (I believe there was some MIHOP or LIHOP by the neocons, but that's neither here nor there.)

Why, my goodness! Carter didn't even have the wisdom to blow smoke up our asses! Ford at least had "WIN" buttons, and Reagan, of course, could look right into a camera and tell us in that grandfatherly way that everything was gonna be all right. Never mind that that was all he could do; it's what we wanted to hear.

Carter was probably the last straight-shooting president we'll have, because Mer'kins just won't accept leadership that asks us to take responsibility for anything.

by the same Christofascist assholes that embrace this administration and its phony born-againism.

so I don't know that much about his presidency either.

I do know that he's the best ex-president we've got, though.

On the one hand no conservatives liked him, because he had the label "Democrat" even though he was fairly moderate. On the other hand, many on the left abandoned him because they thought he was too conservative, and he was from the South.

just found a new toy. Smear, smear smear. Carter was one of the best presidents this country had in a long long time.He has proven himself many times over. Neither Bushes could lick his boots.

Castro basically unloaded the prisons on us.