[qbasic_forever]

There's a good PBS documentary series on all the modern presidents and it's worth a watch if you haven't seen it already. The Carter episode dug into how he was technically well qualified and capable, but just did not have the connections and support of Congress at the time and that ultimately doomed his administration to failure. None of his ideas were able to get funding or support in Congress so his administration just flailed.

[digisign]

Also naively didn't clean house of the "Nixon men," and paid for it dearly later. Nice guys do finish last at that level, and especially in that era.

[ComputerGuru]

It wasn’t naive so much as it was a genuine attempt at healing, forgiveness, and moving past the turmoil. But the corruption won.

[digisign]

It may seem that way if one knows little about the cutthroat Nixon administration, but those folks played hardball. The kind that prolonged a war (Vietnam), killing multiple thousands to ensure getting elected. Watergate, etc. Naiveté in a nutshell, although will allow that "company culture" may not have been as well-known a thing at the time.

[raverbashing]

Yeah

Cancel culture is dangerous, but being tolerant of some behaviours (which of course are much more specific and contextual in this case) was also his downfall

[dehrmann]

> did not have the connections and support of Congress

This applies to almost every job. You need soft skills to be successful.

[ajmurmann]

The big problem. Policy is super interesting and fun and touches on so many diverse and stimulating areas. Politics though is awful and puts sociopaths at an advantage.

[javajosh]

If you're in US Congress, your vote is incredibly valuable. Yet we want our representatives to vote for what is best for our nation. These two objectives are in obvious conflict. This conflict doesn't trouble me (it has always been so) but rather the loss of awareness that this conflict exists and must constantly be mitigated is what troubles me. Congress is now full of people who are overtly self-interested, and their constituents love it. This is evidence of a major structural breakdown of American society, and it's not clear what caused it or what might heal it.

[medvezhenok]

There's a good argument to be made about the 1970 Legislative Reorganization Act as being one of the first places to look. Up until then, Congress voted on a secret ballot, and the congressional votes were not made public - so lobbying had a much higher hurdle to clear (since the lobbyists could not guarantee a return on their investment by verifying that the Congressperson kept their end of the bargain).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4kvUxQIJlA

[wolverine876]

> Politics though is awful and puts sociopaths at an advantage.

That's what the sociopaths want you to think. Look at the most successful people politically, who got the most done - Lincoln, FDR, MLK, etc. They weren't sociopaths. The recent sociopath at the top of the ticket underperformed their own party.