Admiration Expressed
Jimmy likes Obama’s style. WSJ:
PLAINS, Ga. — Former President Jimmy Carter lavished praise on Illinois Sen. Barack Obama during an interview at his home on Monday, though he won’t formally endorse any candidate in the race for the Democratic nomination.
“Obama’s campaign has been extraordinary and titillating for me and my family,” Mr. Carter said.
The 83-year-old former president, who left the White House in 1981, compared Mr. Obama’s speeches to those of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and said he believed the candidate could carry some southern states if he becomes the Democratic nominee.
Mr. Carter also said he talked by telephone at length on Monday with former President Bill Clinton, who was “trying to explain that he was not raising the race issue” on the campaign trail. Mr. Carter said the phone call was to finalize speaking arrangements for Mr. Clinton’s appearance at a meeting organized by Mr. Carter of moderate Baptists in Atlanta beginning today. But much of the conversation centered on the presidential campaign, Mr. Carter said.
Mr. Clinton “has said a few things that I think he wishes he hadn’t said,” Mr. Carter said. “He doesn’t call me often, but the fact that he called me this morning and spent a long time explaining his position indicates that it’s troublesome to them, the adverse reaction.”
“I told him I hoped it would die down…the charged atmosphere concerning the race issue,” Mr. Carter said. “And I think it will.”
The Clinton campaign didn’t immediately comment regarding the conversation or on Mr. Carter’s remarks about Mr. Obama.
Mr. Carter, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002, has assiduously avoided involvement in the nitty-gritty of Democratic politics in the years since his presidency — partly to avoid conflicts that might entangle the work of his nonprofit, the Carter Center.
But more than once he has given public signals of encouragement to politicians he likes. In August, he introduced Sen. John Edwards, who now trails Mr. Obama and New York Sen. Hillary Clinton in the Democratic nominating contest, at an event held near Plains.
Yeah, and look what happened to him. Watch out you don’t step in any of that, Obie.
One minor quibbling point with WSJ. I believe “who was run out of the White House in 1981″ would be more accurate. If anyone hopeful for change happens to have accidentally stumbled into this site, here’s something you might not be aware of: Despite some pretty stiff competition, Jimmy Carter was the single worst president in living memory. Contrary to popular misconception, it was Carter who presided over the most disastrous period in recent American history.
His Kumbayah approach to foreign policy, specifically his handling of the Iran hostage crisis, played a significant role in kicking off the wars in which we are now engaged. Because as wonderful as it is to use one’s words, play nice, think the best of people, and avoid seemingly unnecessary bloodshed, there are long-term consequences. Obama, hopeful of change, has expressed his desire to pick up the Carter banner and carry it forward in direct talks with assorted nutjob dictators and state sponsors of terrorism. That, if the last three decades is any guide, will only encourage them.
Topics: pols
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 11:33 am on Wednesday, January 30, 2008
9 Responses to “Admiration Expressed”
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January 30th, 2008 at 12:05 pm
“Obama’s campaign has been extraordinary and titillating for me and my family,” Mr. Carter said.
Don’t touch that line.
With a 10′ pole.
January 30th, 2008 at 12:29 pm
Obama is Jimmy Carter’s spiritual son. And the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, so to speak.
January 30th, 2008 at 12:42 pm
This is not an individual I would want to be listening to for 4 years.
I take issue with just about every one of these “points”.
http://althouse.blogspot.com/2008/01/is-this-person-you-want-to-be-listening.html
(oh yes, one of these daze I’ll take 5 minutes to learn the short URL)
January 30th, 2008 at 7:22 pm
“Jimmy Carter was the single worst president in living memory.”
Frankly, I’d rather have a bumbling incompetent Dem president that DIDN”t get us into a serious war in Europe or Asia than one who did, and Jimmy Carter has the honor of being the first Dem president of the 20th century that didn’t get tens of thousands of Americans killed in a European/Asian War that really wasn’t any of our business (giving serial bumblers JFK and LBJ equal “credit” for Vietnam).
Bad as he was, I’d rather have Carter than any preceding Dem President.
Of course, any Republican president is far better than any Dem president.
January 30th, 2008 at 8:55 pm
Mr. Surls - I call your bet, and raise you one Warren G. Harding. He is widely rated as the worst president in history for his utterly corrupt administration. Nixon’s Machiavellian policies had their benefits, but some of the things he did hurt the Republican cause for years. Watergate cost us Vietnam.
I suppose you would have had leave Churchill and Britain out to dry after Pearl Harbor? FDR ran WW2 well enough to make up for his socialism. Wilson was not an effective leader, but he was forced into war. And Carter got us directly involved in the War on Terror with the hostage crisis and the fall of the shah. Your analogy falls completely flat.
January 30th, 2008 at 9:02 pm
First Ted “Swimmer” Kennedy, and now Jimmy “Moonbat” Carter. Obama sure is wracking all those important voices of cough “wisdom” cough.
January 31st, 2008 at 1:12 am
Do not forget that Carter left the economy in a shambles. Double digit inflation, double digit interest rates, high unemployment.
January 31st, 2008 at 3:08 am
“Mr. Surls - I call your bet, and raise you one Warren G. Harding.”
Too bad we don’t have him around now. One of our better presidents.
Roosevelt: the worst.
January 31st, 2008 at 3:24 am
“I suppose you would have had leave Churchill and Britain out to dry after Pearl Harbor?”
Nope. Once America is attacked, once Americans have been killed, then we fight, no matter how idiotic our policies were before that attack took place.