Jimmy Carter Would Serve Mankind Best by Retiring
There is nothing so harmful to the interests of a nation as a politician desperate for a legacy:
Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter says North Korea’s nuclear issue could be worked out “in half a day” given the right conditions.
Carter told AP he believes North Korea would surrender its nuclear weapons in return for U.S. diplomatic recognition, a peace agreement with South Korea and the U.S., and new atomic power reactors and fuel oil.
He said North Koreans “have always been willing to forego their nuclear capability if they have diplomatic relations with the United States.” [Chosun Ilbo]
He forgot the reparations aid, the free electrical grid, moving the NLL down to Incheon, withdrawing USFK, 50 seats in the South Korean parliament, gold-plated commodes for Kim Jong Il’s palaces, and whatever else “hostile policy” happens to mean that week.
No informed and intelligent observer of North Korea’s actions or words could possibly believe what Carter says. Could Carter possibly be unaware of this, this, this, or this? In other words, is Carter uninformed, unintelligent, or both?
I would also like to register my curiosity about the whereabouts of the man who once called himself “the human rights president.” Does Jimmy Carter still have nothing to say about North Korea’s concentration camps and public mass executions, or does the former president suffer from a rare and intermittent paralysis of the larynx that only afflicts him when he’s confronted by the atrocities of people who hate America?
This annoys me a great deal. It always does when he speaks out – about anything.
It’s time for heavy weights in the Dem party to step up and tell this man to shut up — or — run for office again…
The tradition of former president’s keeping their mouthes shut has been an important one in our democracy, and this man has done his best to destroy it.
Maybe when he is no longer around, it will all be OK. Maybe nobody of name needs to trash the man publicly.
But, given how many relatively youthful ex-presidents we are going to have hanging around the next few decades — I’d rather see the media and some big names take Carter’s mouth as an opportunity to solidify the tradition of non-interference by former chief executives….