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Carter's efforts to break through the isolation he had suddenly felt were behind the President's surprise visits to the Fishers and the Porterfields. Aides say those calls were planned at the same time as the summit itself; Carter wanted to sample the views of middle-class citizens after spending a week with the nation's elite. But the plans were kept so secret that the hosts had no idea how or why they were singled out. And the White House declined to say.
Both couples were approached by third parties and asked to assemble some friends for a talk on national issues. They were given the impression that their guest would be Pollster Caddell. Caddell did call on the Fishers to inform them that the President himself would be there in an hour; he handed Bette Fisher $100 to buy refreshments. She rushed to a delicatessen about ten miles away and bought mounds of cold cuts and cole slaw, but Carter and Rosalynn, who accompanied him on both trips, declined to eat anything; they settled for lemonade. Ginny Porterfield had prepared coffee and sweet rolls for the visitor from Washington and friends and neighbors, including two doctors, some farmers, retired schoolteachers and widows. But she and the major had no idea that the President was coming until Carter rather than Caddell walked through the door of their one-story yellow stucco house.
Indications are that Carter heard from the middle-class citizens pretty much the same things he had been listening to at Camp David. The Porter-fields and their group declined to talk about what was said, except that the discussion covered "what the people are worried about." William Fisher said, "We talked about a lot of things: the oil shortage, gas lines, SALT. I told him I thought the country was in a downhill spiral with respect to the economy, inflation and gasoline. He agreed with me.
He thinks the country's in a downhill spin too."
Another man sitting on Fisher's porch confirmed Carter's worry that his messages were not getting through to the people, that, as the President later told Camp David visitors, "they either turned off their television sets or went bowling." Fisher's friend told Carter that people had been concerned about his cancellation of his original speech, but Carter promptly asked, "Would you have listened if I had made the speech?" "He thought a long time," Carter recalled, "and he said, 'Well, I listened to your earlier speeches.' And I said, 'No, I want to know if you would have listened last Thursday night.' He said, 'Mr. President, I hate to answer you, but I promise you I'll listen to you on Sunday night.' " If the people did listen, would it mean that Carter can begin pulling the nation —and his own presidency—out of its "downhill spin"? Much of the discussion at Camp David focused on the need for changes in Carter's staff, and perhaps in the Cabinet. A reshuffling is coming, White House insiders said last week, but it probably will stop far short of what many summit guests urged and thought Carter would carry out.