The apparently widely-held, oft-repeated "truism" that Jimmy Carter's Presidency was a failure simply didn't wash for many of us in 1980, and especially when seen from the new millennium, the hostility aimed at the former President seems like a beaten dead horse that only the most desperate right-winger or Fox News ranter would mount. I'll concede the recollection of several lengthy waits (maybe 20 minutes each) in the gas lines (when the cost of a gallon was still in the double digits) and, of course, the abortive attempt to rescue the hostages which, unlike the recent "shock and awe campaign," was executed with anything but surgical precision. But if the years 1976-80 represented the country's nadir (the Dow hadn't even reached 1000 though few cared), we should all be so lucky.

Clearly, luck wasn't with the President. There was no "mission accomplished" for Jimmy Carter, but Mattson's book makes you wish the man had been given another four years to carry out what might seem like an impossible task: awakening the American people to the cost not merely of terrorism but of consumerism (what a contrast to the message of his "morning in America" successor or to the recent chief executive who, after 9/11, urged us to go out and spend money as a patriotic duty). Mattson's dissection of Carter's "malaise" speech is, on the one hand, a glimpse of the vibrant mind and compassionate heart of a public servant and, on the other hand, an analysis that helps explain the remarkable vision and extraordinary achievements of the man since he left office. After reading it, you're likely to be less surprised by the speech (though it reads better than I remembered it--public speaking was not Carter's forte) than the ability of the American people to respond relatively positively to what would have been a strong dose of medicine even today. As the recent fallen King used to sing, it all starts with the man in the mirror, and had we seen ourselves as we truly were and are, it's highly unlikely our journey home would have gotten side-tracked by missions, crusades, and quests less reflective of a courageous people than a nation in its dotage.