Carter Sees Tea Party Parallels to His 1976 Run

ATLANTA (AP) — Former President Jimmy Carter said Monday he sees parallels between today's Tea Party and his own campaign for the White House in 1976. But he doesn't think the movement will be much of a factor beyond this fall's elections.
The Georgia Democrat told The Associated Press he rode a wave of voter discontent to the presidency on the heels of the Vietnam War and the Watergate scandal that felled President Richard Nixon, much like Tea Party conservatives are now earning support by voicing anger at the nation's economic woes.
"I was a candidate that was in some ways like the Tea Party candidate," Carter said in an interview. "I was a complete outsider. I capitalized legitimately on the dissatisfaction that was permeating our society."
He said the Tea Party's momentum will likely wear off and they will be co-opted by the Republican Party.
"I think they're going to be quite a major factor in November," he said. "I think there's already a process of absorbing them into the Republican Party. I think they will be much less of a factor in 2012 and in future years."
The comments came the same day the former president's new book, "White House Diary," was released.
In the book, Carter said he pursued an overly aggressive agenda as president that may have confused voters and alienated lawmakers. But he said the tipping points that cost him the 1980 election were the Iran hostage crisis and the primary challenge by U.S. Sen. Ted Kennedy.
"Had we not had the hostage crisis, I would have won," he said in the interview of his defeat to Republican Ronald Reagan, adding: "Had I not had Kennedy as my opponent, who sapped away a portion of the Democratic wing, I would have been re-elected."
Carter said in the book that he is proud of his accomplishments during his presidency, but that pushing controversial decisions such as the end of U.S. control of the Panama Canal and working to normalize relations with Communist China cost him political support.
"I overburdened Congress with an array of controversial and politically costly requests. Looking back, I am struck by how many unpopular objectives we pursued," he said, adding: "We were able to achieve a remarkable amount of what we set out to do, but ultimately the political cost — of my administration and for members of Congress — was very high."
Carter, 85, compiled the book from thoughts and observations he dictated several times a day in tapes turned over to his secretary. Thirty years later, he condensed and annotated the diary with recent reflections. The book was published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
The former president said in the interview that he neglected his role as the party's leader, opening a vacuum that cost some of his chief legislative supporters their jobs. He said there were 20 senators up for re-election in 1978 who voted for the Panama treaty — and only seven came back to the Senate the next year.
"One of the things I could have done better is I could have been a better leader of the Democratic Party. I didn't feel comfortable," he said.
Carter said he decided to publish the diary because it "may be my last chance to offer an assessment of my time in the White House," he wrote.