But Mr. Carter had served aboard Navy submarines. He ran a peanut plantation. He served one term as Georgia governor—real jobs that produce real effects. Mr. Carter saw himself in some realistic relation to the world.

The world is big. A president, even the president’s “progressive” commitments, are small in comparison.

It was no part of Mr. Carter’s progressive heritage to dismantle the regulatory state that the original progressives had erected. But he did so—in airlines, trucking, railroads and (partially) energy—and made a virtue of it.

It was no part of his progressive heritage to prioritize a strong dollar, but he did so—appointing and supporting Paul Volcker because inflation-fighting had to be done.

The Carter presidency was a mixed bag, but he had the requisite adult judgment for the job. He did not abandon his “progressive” values, but he could see the obvious—that the times called for backing and filling in the “progressive” project, not charging ahead, onward and upward oblivious to realities.