My MIL worked in the Carter administration and has met him a number of times. She has a large signed poster from him thanking her for her hard work. He has always been an admirable and good person.
Carter was, in my opinion, the original virtue signaler. He was very public in his proclamation of his faith, while Ford was more privately devout during the campaign. Ford confided to his friends and family that he believed faith to be a personal matter between the supplicant and God. He was appalled at the idea of using his religious faith in a political campaign.
Carter was also partly responsible for the 9/11 attacks. He declared that we no longer needed human intelligence because our technical collection was so good. We had to start over from the beginning in the Reagan years and made a lot of missteps. Our focus was on the USSR, then China, and we missed the Middle East completely.
Your take is very similar to my dad's, who is well to the left of me but voted Ford because he couldn't abide Carter's virtue signaling. Ford was widely mocked at the time but he looks pretty good now.
We may have to agree to disagree about Carter's and Stan Turner's ultimately futile efforts to rein in the CIA (or, I should say, DP/DO) after the excesses of the Dulles regime. It is a pity that the HUMINT baby got thrown out with the covert action bathwater.
He struggled as prez, but the circumstances were sticky. It’s impossible to know who would’ve done better. It should also be remembered that he was the first in a long line of ‘outsider’ candidate s, and, in that way if no other, had something in common with (first-term) Obama and Trump. His evangelical bent, in a real sense a kind of artifact of his southern Protestant roots, was a big contrast to Ford’s more private northern style, and I would still choose the latter as preferable in a candidate. JC’s forwarding of his faith was, after all, echoed by G’Dubya, and may well go down in the annals as the opening move in the Triumphant March of American virtue signaling. But he did show that he wasn’t a phony or a moral lightweight, and we can be genuinely thankful for that. Vaya con dios James. We know you gave it your best.
I always liked him. He always seemed like a decent guy and it’s so weird that he’s perceived as a poor president. I hope he has an easy exit from this life.
If I were Jimmy Carter I wouldn't judge, but can we just all admit Ted Kennedy was a horrible excuse for a human being? The mold for Bill Clinton. Lived a life of zero accountability.
I'm so sad to hear that Jimmy Carter is in hospice. He is a great man.
I regard his public acceptance of the inevitability of death as heroic. We all gotta go sometime.
My MIL worked in the Carter administration and has met him a number of times. She has a large signed poster from him thanking her for her hard work. He has always been an admirable and good person.
Carter was, in my opinion, the original virtue signaler. He was very public in his proclamation of his faith, while Ford was more privately devout during the campaign. Ford confided to his friends and family that he believed faith to be a personal matter between the supplicant and God. He was appalled at the idea of using his religious faith in a political campaign.
Carter was also partly responsible for the 9/11 attacks. He declared that we no longer needed human intelligence because our technical collection was so good. We had to start over from the beginning in the Reagan years and made a lot of missteps. Our focus was on the USSR, then China, and we missed the Middle East completely.
Your take is very similar to my dad's, who is well to the left of me but voted Ford because he couldn't abide Carter's virtue signaling. Ford was widely mocked at the time but he looks pretty good now.
We may have to agree to disagree about Carter's and Stan Turner's ultimately futile efforts to rein in the CIA (or, I should say, DP/DO) after the excesses of the Dulles regime. It is a pity that the HUMINT baby got thrown out with the covert action bathwater.
He struggled as prez, but the circumstances were sticky. It’s impossible to know who would’ve done better. It should also be remembered that he was the first in a long line of ‘outsider’ candidate s, and, in that way if no other, had something in common with (first-term) Obama and Trump. His evangelical bent, in a real sense a kind of artifact of his southern Protestant roots, was a big contrast to Ford’s more private northern style, and I would still choose the latter as preferable in a candidate. JC’s forwarding of his faith was, after all, echoed by G’Dubya, and may well go down in the annals as the opening move in the Triumphant March of American virtue signaling. But he did show that he wasn’t a phony or a moral lightweight, and we can be genuinely thankful for that. Vaya con dios James. We know you gave it your best.
He is my hero!!! Thanks for sharing. We visited the Carter center. Wonderful work they are doing
I always liked him. He always seemed like a decent guy and it’s so weird that he’s perceived as a poor president. I hope he has an easy exit from this life.
The picture of him and his wife is adorable.
I like that picture, too. JC has been old for most of our lives...need to remember him starting out.
Ted Kennedy was terrible to him and so were those who supported TK. Thanks to TK we got Reagan.
https://www.npr.org/2019/01/17/686186156/how-ted-kennedys-80-challenge-to-president-carter-broke-the-democratic-party
If I were Jimmy Carter I wouldn't judge, but can we just all admit Ted Kennedy was a horrible excuse for a human being? The mold for Bill Clinton. Lived a life of zero accountability.
I wonder if he’ll be remembered differently after his death. Maybe a future era will see him in a better light.
Willie Nelson & Jimmy--
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/jimmy-carter-rock-and-roll-president-989498/