Iowa politics put Jimmy Carter on the map

I had a strange realization the other day — until his death on Dec. 29, President Jimmy Carter was the last living American commander in chief who served before I was born. Every president after him served during my lifetime.

The first passing of an American president to occur in the life of your friendly neighborhood opinion columnist was that of Richard Nixon on April 22, 1994. I was not quite 10 years old, not yet old enough to appreciate the mark that Tricky Dick left on American history.

Four days after Nixon died from complications of a stroke, “Mrs. Doubtfire” was released on VHS. The movie included a scene in which Robin Williams’ title character pulls a freshly boiled lobster from the pot while saying in a husky voice, “I am not a crook.” I was in high school when I finally understood the reference. By that time, the most recognized of infamous presidential lines was, “I did not have sexual relations with that woman.”

(Speaking of former presidents credited with infamous lines, yes he did.)

Though it had of course happened many times already in my young life, Nixon’s passing was the first time I remember noticing an American flag at half-staff. I likely noticed it as a not-quite 10-year-old because it lasted long enough that I had ample time to observe it. Statute requires a flag to be flown half-staff for 30 days after the death of a U.S. president.

As some people have pointed out, the 30-day time frame to honor Carter overlaps with the upcoming presidential inauguration. Those who despise President-elect Donald Trump might find that amusing. They have this conservative’s blessing to laugh as he takes the oath on Jan. 20 with every flag half-staff — there’s no need for Trump voters to be the only ones smiling and gigging that day.

Trump won’t be a trendsetter in that regard. Flags were also flown half-staff during the inauguration of — get this — Nixon, for his second term, which began on Jan. 20, 1973. Former President Harry Truman had died 24 days earlier on Dec. 26, 1972. Here’s a deep cut for the anti-Trump left, in which I paraphrase a recent guest columnist who quoted Shakespeare’s “The Tempest”: Perhaps the past is indeed prologue.

With Carter’s passing, every instance from here on out during which we lower the flag for 30 days will be for a president who served while I was mature enough to be civically engaged. I’m too young to feel this old.

(If you’re old enough to remember the Kennedy, Eisenhower or Truman administrations — or, dare I say, that of Franklin Roosevelt — I bet you’re thinking, “Just you wait, honey.”)

Carter’s legacy as president comes with mixed reviews. As your resident conservative columnist, I’ll go no further than to say this: some people make for better citizens than executives. Carter’s legacy as a citizen has entered my focus a number of times over the years, as both a child and an adult.

One such occasion was when he appeared on the ABC sitcom “Home Improvement,” then the #2-ranked show in all of television with over 35 million viewers.

On the episode, “Eve of Construction,” main character Tim Taylor, the accident-prone host of a local cable home improvement show, competes with his wife and his assistant to see who can build a better house for Habitat for Humanity. In real life, Carter’s devotion to the charity that builds affordable homes for those in need began in 1984 and will forever be a large part of his legacy.

The episode also starred Denver Broncos legend John Elway and heavyweight boxer Evander Holyfield, who still had a full set of ears at the time. At its end, Tim and his wife receive a videocassette recorded by Carter, in which he commends them for their participation and tells the klutzy Tim that “crews are working round the clock” to repair his screw-ups.

As a nine-year-old watching that episode when it originally aired, I remember thinking it was neat that a real president would play himself on a TV show. I still do.

Carter’s legacy as a champion of affordable housing reentered my mind as an adult when I was asked a number of years ago to create and host a trivia game for a Presidents Day event with a local organization. Among the 20 questions presented to players that night was, “Who is the only president to have lived in public housing?”

The answer is, of course, Jimmy Carter. At the time, he was a young naval officer who had resigned his commission after his father’s death and moved his wife Rosalynn, and their three sons back to his hometown of Plains, GA to help with the family farm and business.

"Not having any assured income, we applied for and were assigned an apartment in the new housing project in Plains,” Carter wrote in “Why Not the Best,” the autobiography from his 1976 presidential campaign.

“Complimentary” might be a good word to describe my feelings about Carter as a citizen. But as a Democrat running for president, this conservative’s feelings might take one by surprise: I am grateful.

I’m grateful because I’m an Iowan, and I believe in our clunky but charming system of nominating a presidential candidate: the Iowa caucuses.

Carter obviously believed in it, too. He declared his longshot presidential run in late 1974 and spent a whole year camped out in Iowa, gathering supporters in the style that presidential wannabes have continued here for almost 50 years: by talking to them in their own communities. It worked.

Carter was proof that our system, while small enough to keep the door open for other states to weigh in, was also influential enough to put a nobody on a direct path to the presidency.

(I originally started that last sentence with the phrase, “Carter was living, breathing proof …” before I remembered the occasion and said to myself, “Oh, honey, no.”)

Carter showed future candidates that they could actually win by facing voters, not just courting party bosses and money guys. Iowa caucuses show that when national buzz favors one candidate, others still get to at least make a pitch.

That’s worked out better for Democrats than Republicans. Just ask Barack Obama, who surprised party insiders by besting heir-apparent Hillary Clinton in Iowa in 2008. Obama’s Cinderella run to the White House adds a layer of irony to the Democratic National Committee’s 2022 decision to toss Iowa from their leadoff spot in favor of a state that pledges delegates by primary election.

With a strong incumbent on Iowa Democrats’ caucus ballot last January, (HAHAHAHAHA!) the change seemed dull. In 2028, when neither party has an incumbent, the contrast will be sharp, and the process messy.

Carter wrote the playbook on winning a caucus with little money. Iowans wrote the playbook on keeping party business a party expense. Thanks to our caucuses, Iowa is one of only a few states that does not bill taxpayers for the exclusive party function of selecting the delegates who actually nominate a candidate. Put that in your pipe and smoke it, South Carolina.

Perhaps it’s fitting that 2024 was the year that Jimmy Carter passed away. It’s the same year that the Iowa Democratic Party caucuses died.

In 2028, Iowa Republicans will carry on with the process as usual, keeping with a style molded by a little-known Democrat peanut farmer from Georgia. To that peanut-farming Democrat, this bacon-devouring Republican says thank you, well done, and above all, rest in peace.

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