July 21, 1976

The Real Jimmy Carter Stands Up

The real Jimmy Carter stood up last week in New York City, and both Democrats and Republicans were astounded.

Southern Democrats were dismayed to learn that their "good ole' boy" was a closet liberal, ready to embrace the expensive social programs he denounced a few weeks earlier.

Labor party Democrats were elated to discover that they had scored big after being rejected a dozen times in the primaries.

Republicans everywhere perked up and started taking nourishment even though the pollsters had solemnly pronounced their death sentence.

Revelation of Carter's true nature came with his choice of Walter "Fritz" Mondale as his running mate.

Mondale, one should remember, is the darling of labor bosses.  He voted "right" on '93 of the 100 issues in Congress deemed important by Americans for Democratic Action.  "We're wild about Walter," says the leader of the giant teacher's union.

It was a strange choice by Carter.  Liberal, labor candidates had succumbed one-by-one to the conservative image projected by the former Georgia governor during his quest for the presidential nomination.  The Democratic electorate, particularly in the south and west, had spoken forcefully on the type of man they wanted in the White House:

• moderate, independent, broad outlook.  Instead they were handed Fritz Mondale
• radical, beholden to a special interest, enthusiastic about the tired old policies that produced rampant inflation.  It was an opportunistic gambit by Carter whose former supporters now feel betrayed.

The Republicans moved quickly to "put the Fritz" on Jimmy.  Within a week they began to circulate news clippings about the statements and tricks Carter authorized during his drive for the governorship.  It had been a vicious campaign; but, then, that's southern politics where a century of one party government produces supreme arrogance.

This arrogance which comes easily to autocratic politicians will either make or break Carter.

Franklin Roosevelt and John Kennedy had the right touch of arrogance - they were forgiven it, if not praised.  Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon also had a touch of arrogance, but they were crucified.

Can Carter tread the fine line between royalty and rogue?

He grated many Democrats with the vice-presidential charade of summoning seven prominent Democrats for interviews and then a public display of their servility.  Yet he thrilled other Democrats with his recital of how he managed the nomination after 18 months of careful strategy and now was going to do the same in the presidential campaign, "You can depend on it."

Already a reaction is setting in.

Southern Baptists who were confidently predicted to be solidly behind a "born again" Christian may come to the conclusion Carter is a religious hypocrite.

Rev. William K.  McComas, an influential Baptist preacher in Wayne County, Ohio, criticized Carter from the pulpit last Sunday.  Pastor McComas brings in his out-of-town parishioners with a dozen big busses, conducts a Christian elementary school and writes prolifically.

He wonders out loud about "Carter's strange Christian credentials."

"When asked who his favorite theologians were, Carter did not mention R. G. Lee, or W. A Criswell or even Billy Graham," Pastor McComas pointed out.  "In their place he listed Reinhold Niebuhr, Karl Barth, Paul Tillich and Soren Kierkegaard.  "It's commonly known that Niebuhr has long been associated with communist-front organizations such as the American Committee for Protection of Foreign Born Americans," Mc Comas told his congregation.

"Carter's theologians conceived and give birth to the "God Is Dead" movement.  Barth has openly made attacks upon the Bible."

It is likely that Carter's much publicized religion and his evangelical sister's influence on him will cause problems with both traditionalists and fundamentalists.  Kennedy, a Roman Catholic, had only to pacify the Protestants.  Carter must carry water on both shoulders.

In the tremendous drive to gain the nomination against great odds, Carter may have overplayed his hand.  As the pros say, he may have "peaked" too soon - a situation dreaded by politicians because the only direction thereafter is down.

The Carter-Mondale ticket probably creates a political situation favoring the 'nomination of Gerald Ford by the Republicans.  The decided left tilt of the Democrat standard makes a middle-of-the-road Republican team more attractive.  Or, to put it another way, the GOP no longer must out-conservative Carter.

Experience in Washington starts to look important to voters.  The choice of old Washington pro Mondale for the Democrats nullifies Carter's arguments against the "establishment."

The real Jimmy Carter may yet be the winning Carter, but it is not the old Carter we all knew and loved.

Author: Lindsey Williams