It almost seems unfair writing about Jimmy Carter anymore. Writing about what a failure he was as a president is as challenging as writing about why the sun rises and sets, why hitting yourself in the head with a hammer is a bad idea, or offering thoughts on whether or not Hitler was a bad man… these are all pretty much settled issues with indisputable conclusions. So why bother? Why not leave this “elder statesman” alone, allow him his delusions of competence, and thank him for his efforts to build houses for the homeless? Because he doesn’t keep his ramblings to himself and he makes them news.
If anyone besides the Rosie O’Donnell fan club believes that George Bush is the worst president in history in international relations as Jimmy Carter contends, perhaps they should be looking to get their meds adjusted just a tad. And to have these words uttered by the worst modern day president reminds me of a last place runner, having just been lapped by the field, trying to claim that one of the front-runners is really a lap behind him; anyone paying any attention at all will know it is not true. In the interested of space, time and a need to avoid repeating the same thing over and over and over again, I offer these links and excerpts from previous postings in lieu of 10 paragraphs on how bad it was back in the good ‘ole days of President Jimmy Carter:
- Happy Anniversary Jimmy
- A proud history of symbolism over substance… your Democrat Party in action. In honor of this great day in US history, remember to turn down your thermostats, put on a sweater, and form a line at your nearest gas station.
- What is up with Jimmy Carter?
- For all the good things Jimmy Carter has done since the end of his presidency, his four years in office are widely recognized as a failure. From the Iranian Hostage Crises, to double digit inflation, prime interest rate at 21.5%, Panama Canal Treaty to turn over control of the US built canal, pulling out of the 1980 Olympics to protest Soviet aggression (I thought we were supposed to set aside differences in the spirit of Olympic diplomacy… a friend of mine trained his whole life only to have his dream crushed), reinstatement of the registration for the draft, cancellation of the B-1 bomber program, oil shortages, high unemployment, and slow economic growth… the list goes on and on. The point is, when did Jimmy Carter become someone we would want advice on anything on?
- Thank You Jimmy Carter
- Seems our President Jimmy Carter (the very same who is so critical of the current administration) was a fountain of indecision, from the failure to act when our alliance with Iran was falling apart to his ineffective reaction to the hostage crisis (aka act of war).
OK.. maybe just a few thoughts on some of his specific comments:
From Yahoo! AP: “We now have endorsed the concept of pre-emptive war where we go to war with another nation militarily, even though our own security is not directly threatened, if we want to change the regime there or if we fear that some time in the future our security might be endangered,” he said. “But that’s been a radical departure from all previous administration policies.”
Really? Never? We didn’t blockade Cuba in the Kennedy administration? Were we threatened when we joined our allies in the Kosovo War? Was President Clinton engaged in a radical departure when he bombed Iraq? Japan attacked us… but why did we send tens of thousands to die fighting against Germany and Italy? Was it because we felt directly threatened? Did we not feel threatened by Saddam Hussein when he threatened us with the use of WMDs, shot at our jets, sponsored terrorist attacks? Seems like Iraq actually threatened us more just before the continuation of the Iraq War (the “first one” never ended.. we were in a cease fire) than Germany before we entered into World War II.
Carter also offered a harsh assessment for the White House’s Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, which helped religious charities receive $2.15 billion in federal grants in fiscal year 2005 alone.
“The policy from the White House has been to allocate funds to religious institutions, even those that channel those funds exclusively to their own particular group of believers in a particular religion,” Carter said. “As a traditional Baptist, I’ve always believed in separation of church and state and honored that premise when I was president, and so have all other presidents, I might say, except this one.”
Folks, all other presidents did not honor this false premise; this is merely a convenient rewrite of history so that you and I will believe that only secular groups have a right to receive tax dollars in support of programs to feed, cloth and house the neediest among us. For reference, here yet again is the full text of the 1st Amendment:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.
More thoughts on this topic here, and an excerpt about President Jefferson who I tend to believe might disagree with Jimmy Carter:
Many point to President Jefferson as a guide to interpreting the 1st Amendment, with the belief that his words help to define the original intent. In Newt Gingrich’s speech to the Nackey S. Loeb School of Communications, he reminds us of the following:
We then take you to the Jefferson Memorial, Jefferson often being cited as the president who was the most interested in secularism, remember he wrote the Danbury Baptists and said: We need a wall of separation between Church and state. What no one will tell you is what he meant by that is this should not be an official state religion. He clearly did not mean that you could not have God in public because two days after he wrote that letter he went out front of the Whitehouse, got in a carriage, road up the hill to the Capitol, and went to church in the US House which served as a church until the 1860’s. He also loaned the treasury building every Sunday as a church.
And if you go to the Jefferson Memorial he says around the very top of it: “I have sworn upon the altar of God eternal hostility against all forms of tyranny over the minds of man”. Now you can ask your secular friends what do you think Jefferson meant by “I have sworn upon the altar of God’, but it’s fairly difficult for them to explain that he meant large purple banana or some other deeply symbolic meaning. It’s quite clear if you read Jefferson’s writings in total, they meant God.
Sounds to me like Jefferson believed religion and government were not mutually exclusive.
Jimmy Carter was the worst modern day US president and the facts support this reality. Many of his diplomatic efforts following his presidency have ended in failure as well. His best hope at a legacy that he can be proud of is Habitat for Humanity, but he dishonors himself by insisting on breaking with tradition and attacking a sitting president… then again, it seems clear that honor is not something liberals much care about these days, nor is integrity, loyalty, responsibility or any of the other things grown-ups are supposed to care about.
Also thinkin’bout this topic: Gina Cobb
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