A dismal failure as a president and as an ex-president
Has history ever treated failure with such unjustified kindness?
Of course it has! Just take a look at all those Confederate flags still flying in the South.
Well, I cringe at the reaction I may get for conceding this, but I think your point is valid. And I wonder if the Confederate flag flew over Jimmy Carter’s statehouse.
Guess we haven’t absolved Jimmy of anything.
Of all the presidents the U.S. has had in the past 40 years, Carter had the greatest integrity. I believe he was and is an honest man, and I think his ineffectualism as a leader was partially the result of that. His perspective on the mid-east crisis, the notion that muslims and jews could live together in peace, may have been fundamentally untenable, but it was based on the hope that people can put the past behind them. He felt that was the key, people’s capacity to be reasonable. All in all, I might not agree with him, but I respect the man enough to be willing to listen to what he has to say, rather than simply condemning him out of hand.
Much of what has Carter is so much trouble is his dishonesty — using materials without permission, selective omissions in his arguments and recollections, and even his book’s cheap, hot-button, sloganeering title.
I had the unique perspective of taking a direct flight from South Africa to Israel in 1990, and having traveled directly from the waning days of real apartheid, I can tell you that Israel wasn’t it. Not a complete open society as we know it, and on balance, not a fun place to be a Palestinian, but largely because of the violent ways of the Palestinians themselves, and Palestinians’ overwhelming support for that violence. The Arab-Israeli dysfunction is a completely different neurosis, and a dishonest mischaracterization of that area’s very real problems brings us no closer to answers.
I have no special knowledge of Carter’s integrity in office. All I remember is the hostages, gas prices, inflation, malaise, Desert One ….
Then again, I returned from there convinced that there will never be an answer. My words, ever since, have been “build a fence.” I guess someone took my advice.
It’s a shame to see what a small-hearted and miserable man Mr. Carter has become since he was found ‘wanting’ by the American electorate and sent packing after one term in office.
A dismal failure as a president and as an ex-president
Has history ever treated failure with such unjustified kindness?
Of course it has! Just take a look at all those Confederate flags still flying in the South.
Well, I cringe at the reaction I may get for conceding this, but I think your point is valid. And I wonder if the Confederate flag flew over Jimmy Carter’s statehouse.
Guess we haven’t absolved Jimmy of anything.
Of all the presidents the U.S. has had in the past 40 years, Carter had the greatest integrity. I believe he was and is an honest man, and I think his ineffectualism as a leader was partially the result of that. His perspective on the mid-east crisis, the notion that muslims and jews could live together in peace, may have been fundamentally untenable, but it was based on the hope that people can put the past behind them. He felt that was the key, people’s capacity to be reasonable. All in all, I might not agree with him, but I respect the man enough to be willing to listen to what he has to say, rather than simply condemning him out of hand.
Much of what has Carter is so much trouble is his dishonesty — using materials without permission, selective omissions in his arguments and recollections, and even his book’s cheap, hot-button, sloganeering title.
I had the unique perspective of taking a direct flight from South Africa to Israel in 1990, and having traveled directly from the waning days of real apartheid, I can tell you that Israel wasn’t it. Not a complete open society as we know it, and on balance, not a fun place to be a Palestinian, but largely because of the violent ways of the Palestinians themselves, and Palestinians’ overwhelming support for that violence. The Arab-Israeli dysfunction is a completely different neurosis, and a dishonest mischaracterization of that area’s very real problems brings us no closer to answers.
I have no special knowledge of Carter’s integrity in office. All I remember is the hostages, gas prices, inflation, malaise, Desert One ….
Then again, I returned from there convinced that there will never be an answer. My words, ever since, have been “build a fence.” I guess someone took my advice.
It’s a shame to see what a small-hearted and miserable man Mr. Carter has become since he was found ‘wanting’ by the American electorate and sent packing after one term in office.
He simply won’t forgive us.