New York ? Undone in his 1980 re-election bid, Jimmy Carter left the White House tarred as a failure. Yet, curiously, his offenses were hard to distinguish from the qualities that, four years before, had carried him from “Jimmy Who?” to the nation’s highest office.

Says Carter’s former speech writer, Hendrik Hertzberg: “He was exactly what the American people always say they want: determined to do the right thing regardless of political consequences, a simple person who doesn’t lie, a modest man. : That’s what people say they want.”

But as Carter took exile with wife Rosalynn at their Plains, Ga., home, the American people “just couldn’t stand him.”

Hertzberg is among many witnesses heard from in an eye-opening TV documentary about the 39th president and Nobel laureate that, with all due simplicity, is titled “Jimmy Carter.”

Among its many lessons: Timing is everything.

In the aftermath of Watergate, Carter’s selling points ” faith, integrity and outsider status ” were just what a traumatized electorate craved. With his customary doggedness, Carter seized the moment and squeaked into office, beating Gerald Ford, the quintessential Washington insider and President Nixon’s handpicked successor.

A miracle? Says Carter pollster Patrick Caddell: “Going from total anonymity to being president of the United Sates in less than 12 months is unprecedented in American history.”

Jimmy

But during Carter’s single term, his timing was off as the nation faced fuel shortages, 14 percent inflation and a crisis of confidence.

Then an Islamic revolution in Iran led to 53 Americans held hostage for 444 agonizing days. Denying Carter any credit for obtaining their safe release, their captors turned them loose on Jan. 20, 1981 ” just moments after Ronald Reagan was sworn in.

As a candidate, Carter had been the peanut-farmer-turned-governor, the born-again Christian and Bob Dylan fan who thrilled listeners with his “never lie to you” guarantee.

But as president, he became despised as weak, wishy-washy and holier-than-thou.

There are presidents who leave office having diminished it. Whatever his failings, Carter didn’t. Then he found the way to go even further as his presidency proved to be the warm-up for a two-decade drive that found him involved in humanitarian efforts at every level (including hammering nails to help build houses for poor Americans). Thus did he transform himself from a presidential flash-in-the-pan to a statesman admired throughout the world.

Last month, Carter, 78, won the Nobel Peace Prize “for his decades of untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts.”