Carter Redux?

This is just me wondering:

After reading Michael van der Galien’s post on Rudy Guliani’s views on Executive power, I started thinking about something; could the next President we get become so weak that he or she will be ineffective? Could we see another Carter-type presidency?

Now, I am not saying that we need another President like the current one that has amassed more and more power at the expense of civil liberties. And while I like Guiliani a lot, I am skittish about his views on power. But I wonder if we are going to go from one extreme to another.

In the 1970s, we witnessed a President that amassed power and threw the nation in a crisis. After he resigned in disgrace, the electorate gave a former governor from a southern state, Jimmy Carter, the keys to the White House. But many people saw Jimmy Carter as very weak and not able to really rally the people. The image that probably sticks in people’s minds is that of a President that trapped by the Iranian Hostage Crisis that was visualized in the failure of Desert One.

In two years, President Bush will leave the political scene. Will the next President be one who will bring more balance to the system of checks and balances, or will it be someone that is weak? Will we have someone who won’t be an effective executive like Carter was?

I don’t know the answer to that, of course. All I know is that as much as I don’t want an Imperial Presidency, I don’t want a weak Presidency either.