Who was a more liberal president, Carter or Obama?

[bagelman]

Someone claimed that Carter is more liberal than Obama, but refused to give a reason when I asked for one.

[Phony Moderate]

In the true sense of the word, Carter.

[bagelman]

In the true sense of the word, Carter.

What do you mean by that?

[Blue3]

Who tried (and achieved) healthcare reform? Obama

Who started deregulation? Carter

[bballrox4717]

Definitely Obama, by a long shot. Foreign policy was arguably the only issue that Carter was to Obama's left, and even then he took a sharp right wing turn by the end of his presidency.

[Rockefeller GOP]

Definitely Obama, by a long shot. Foreign policy was arguably the only issue that Carter was to Obama's left, and even then he took a sharp right wing turn by the end of his presidency.

Dear posters who've only followed politics since the Iraq War broke out,

There's no left and right in foreign policy.

Sincerely,

A bunch of historical evidence pre-George W. Bush.

Anyway, Carter.

[Orser67]

In the true sense of the word, Carter.

But in the modern American sense of the word, Obama. Carter supported a mix of liberal, moderate, and conservative policies, whereas Obama hasn't done anything you could really call conservative.

There's no left and right in foreign policy.

I disagree with this. Throughout the 20th century, conservatives have tended to support a more realist, unilateralist approach, while liberals have tended to support a more, well, liberal, multilateralist approach to foreign policy.

[I support Sanders]

Carter governed as a socially conservative Southern Democrat, with relatively conservative (relative to FDR, Truman, JFK, and LBJ) economic policies. On foreign policy, Carter slightly edges out Obama, because he was the only President since WW2 to never have a small war under his administration.
Obama is slight more liberal overall, although his support for TPP is narrowing that gap.

[ScottieF]

Who tried (and achieved) healthcare reform? Obama

Who started deregulation? Carter

Obvious answer is obvious

[/]

The word "liberal" should be banned.

[Bigby]

Carter's slide to the left began post-Presidency, so Obama.

[Phony Moderate]

Thing is, every Democratic president seems to be seen as a liberal during their presidency. And yet most would agree that there are considerable differences between the policies of Carter, Wilson and LBJ.

[ScottieF]

Democratic Presidents of the last 100 years from most liberal to least liberal:

FDR
LBJ
Obama
Wilson
Truman
JFK
Carter
Clinton

[Taco Truck 🚚]

Democratic Presidents of the last 100 years from most liberal to least liberal:

FDR
LBJ
Obama
Wilson
Truman
JFK
Carter
Clinton

Yeah, when people say Carter was so liberal I always wonder what they are referring to.  They never say what exactly he did that was liberal besides not starting a new war every five minutes.

[Sumner 1868]

Basically, Carter's liberalism was a hybrid of William Jennings Bryan and George McGovern, while Obama's is a hybrid of Clintonism and McGovernism. Which of those you consider "more" liberal is up to you.

Who tried (and achieved) healthcare reform? Obama

Who started deregulation? Carter

Actually, Nixon started deregulation. And Carter's health care policy was overall on the left of Obama.

[sparkey]

The word "liberal" should be banned.

How very illiberal of you.

[Goldwater]

I would consider Obama the more left wing of the two. Whether or not that equals more liberal depends on how you are using the word.

[Mister Mets]

It depends on the context.

Do you mean relative to their era, or in comparison to one another?

Obama probably "wins" in both categories. Carter was challenged by two prominent primary opponents (The best-known Senator in the country, and the Governor of the largest state with a Democratic executive.) He failed to endorse gay marriage at any point in his presidency.

[pbrower2a]

Paradoxically, Barack Obama proves to have been the biggest privatizer of government assets in American history -- for selling off assets acquired in "receivership socialism".

[Oswald Acted Alone, You Kook]

It depends on the context.

Do you mean relative to their era, or in comparison to one another?

Obama probably "wins" in both categories. Carter was challenged by two prominent primary opponents (The best-known Senator in the country, and the Governor of the largest state with a Democratic executive.) He failed to endorse gay marriage at any point in his presidency.

That's because it was the 70's. I'd bet less than 10% of the US Population supported SSM before 2000.

[Mister Mets]

It depends on the context.

Do you mean relative to their era, or in comparison to one another?

Obama probably "wins" in both categories. Carter was challenged by two prominent primary opponents (The best-known Senator in the country, and the Governor of the largest state with a Democratic executive.) He failed to endorse gay marriage at any point in his presidency.

That's because it was the 70's. I'd bet less than 10% of the US Population supported SSM before 2000.

My point was that there were two ways of looking at the question, although I think Obama is more liberal by both definitions.

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

Carter was a liberal when it came to authorizing use of force, since he was the only prez in modern era not to have done si. But, since he was also the only prez not to select a Judge on SCOTUS, we can assume he was more conservative than Obama. Since Byrd was leader of Senate, at time, and they agreed on more pragmatic bills.