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Statement on President Carter’s Health

cartercenter.org

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Re: Statement on President Carter’s Health

#151

Post by starkd »

croutonwagon wrote: post #104
ubermonkey wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I WAS alive — though a child - and I think you’re likely right. The only President of this era who I think might be as kind and compassionate is Obama. But Carter’s post-presidential years stand alone in their profound decency and generosity.

I agree but feel Obama may not be an apt comparison. He spearheaded or allowed and covered for a lot of shady progression of the MIC in his time, from domestic surveillance and big bumps in prosecutions of whistleblowers to the prevelance of drone strikes on non combatants, including known extra judicial strikes of Americans overseas. That said I’m not sure a modern president can really go through a tenure without ha…

Obama was also quick to use the office of president to cash in. Something I find truly disasteful and only wrecks his credibility, in my view. Carter still lives in a relatively modest home in Georgia where he grew up. This shows a great deal of discipline against temptation. It truly is a mark of great character.

Re: Statement on President Carter’s Health

#152

Post by starkd »

bsenftner wrote: post #72
wefarrell wrote: post #18

I’m a huge fan of the man despite the fact that I wasn’t alive when he was president. He strikes me as possibly the kindest, humblest and most compassionate man who has possibly ever occupied the Oval Office. The complaints about him that I’ve heard from the older generation of my family is that he was too nice and naive to run a superpower like the US.

I consider him one of the greatest human in recent history. It is a damn shame the current climate is so politically difficult; he is not going to get the recognition he deserves for quite a while. Yes, there will be recognition, but the magnitude of what he took on, gripe-less all the while, is yet to be realized.

Oh, I don't know. I think he will get plenty of recognition. But he will get it precisely because he doesn't expect it and doesn't ask for it. I did not like his policies, but just the fact that he didn't cash in on the office of president like so many do now holds great value in my book. Clinton, Gore and Obama all became mega-millionaires within a few short years of leaving office. Carter puts them to shame with his austere simplicity.

Re: Statement on President Carter’s Health

#154

Post by UncleOxidant »

woodruffw wrote: post #24
wkat4242 wrote: post #2

I have a lot of respect for Carter. Not only did he really seem interested in world peace instead of the warmongering from the MIC, he also remained active for all these years furthering humanitarian causes. And he was a brilliant nuclear engineer who cleaned up a nuclear accident with this team in Canada. I know he wasn't popular in the US which I don't really understand. It sounds to me like he fought the vested bi…

Most US presidents (with a few conspicuous exceptions) experience post-presidential "glow": they become folksy pater familarum in the public's eye. Carter has experienced this more than most, in parts because (1) he's lived longer than every other president to have left office, and (2) he was widely perceived as being kind and genteel, too kind and genteel, while in office. Carter seems to be a genuinely good and kin…

> Carter has experienced this more than most, in parts because

3) He worked to eradicate guinea worm (which has almost been achieved), helped build a lot of houses for Habitat for Humanity and also participated in election monitoring around the world.

Re: Statement on President Carter’s Health

#155

Post by UncleOxidant »

woodruffw wrote: post #48
mikeyouse wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Meh.. the majority of the deregulation that Reagan is credited with actually happened under Carter (craft beer, trucking, airlines, oil, nuclear, natural gas), he appointed Volcker specifically to beat inflation who then spiked rates to 17% which caused the slowdown that likely contributed to Carter's reelection loss.. Noah Smith has a good post on the topic: https://noahpinion.substack.com/p/much-of-what-youve-heard…

Yep. Carter's folksy image obscures a lot of his domestic agenda in the American memory, but he was an economically conservative Democrat.

Definitely was an economically conservative Democrat - he really did try to push for a balanced budget, but couldn't convince his own party on that issue. The reason Ted Kennedy primaried him in 1980 was because Kennedy considered Carter too fiscally conservative.

Re: Statement on President Carter’s Health

#156

Post by woodruffw »

UncleOxidant wrote: post #154
woodruffw wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most US presidents (with a few conspicuous exceptions) experience post-presidential "glow": they become folksy pater familarum in the public's eye. Carter has experienced this more than most, in parts because (1) he's lived longer than every other president to have left office, and (2) he was widely perceived as being kind and genteel, too kind and genteel, while in office. Carter seems to be a genuinely good and kin…

> Carter has experienced this more than most, in parts because 3) He worked to eradicate guinea worm (which has almost been achieved), helped build a lot of houses for Habitat for Humanity and also participated in election monitoring around the world.

I don’t doubt Carter’s bona fides as a human being! The question is why Carter’s reputation as a president has steadily improved.

Re: Statement on President Carter’s Health

#157

Post by blululu »

starkd wrote: post #144
blululu wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Iranian revolution was not a big issue in the election. It was the fact that American embassy staff was held at gunpoint for nearly two years so they could put the Shah on Trial. People were not happy about that.

What are you talking about? It was literally the main news item for the second half of his term. Every evening Walter Cronkite began his broadcast with "day xxx of the hostage crisis". The administration was consumed by it. It also didn't help that Carter ordered a military rescue option that ended in disaster. The Iranians shot down our helicopter.

To clarify: it was the hostages that upset people - not the revolution. The revolution led to the hostages but it wasn't a big news item on its own. Walter Cronkite focused on day four hundred and something of the hostage crisis. The revolution itself did not get nearly as much attention. None of the cold war era revolutions that went for or against American foreign interests were that big of issues in American Electoral politics. Eisenhower lost Cuba, Ford lost Angola, Reagan lost half of Latin America, but the one we remember is is the one with the hostages.

Re: Statement on President Carter’s Health

#158

Post by jki275 »

nivenkos wrote: post #37
wkat4242 wrote: post #2

I have a lot of respect for Carter. Not only did he really seem interested in world peace instead of the warmongering from the MIC, he also remained active for all these years furthering humanitarian causes. And he was a brilliant nuclear engineer who cleaned up a nuclear accident with this team in Canada. I know he wasn't popular in the US which I don't really understand. It sounds to me like he fought the vested bi…

He funded and armed the Mujahideen in Operation Cyclone though - which has literally caused endless trouble with the rise of radical Islam. So it wasn't all "world peace".

Que?

The Mujahideen are NOT responsible for the rise of radical Islam. The Mujahideen have fought WITH the US since they were formed, and against Russia, the Taliban and Al Qaeda and other radical influences in Afghanistan, as they are continuing to do to this day.

Re: Statement on President Carter’s Health

#159

Post by rawgabbit »

wkat4242 wrote: post #2

I have a lot of respect for Carter. Not only did he really seem interested in world peace instead of the warmongering from the MIC, he also remained active for all these years furthering humanitarian causes. And he was a brilliant nuclear engineer who cleaned up a nuclear accident with this team in Canada. I know he wasn't popular in the US which I don't really understand. It sounds to me like he fought the vested bi…

Carter was a good man but a poor president. The US was rocked by years of inflation brought on by the oil crises (Arabs embargoed USA for supporting Israel) and deficit spending (Vietnam War). The average citizen did not believe Carter had any solution to the economic turmoil. With hindsight, we can debate if Reaganomics actually worked; but that is besides the point. The voters believed in it; unfortunately, they didn't believe in Carter.

You can contrast this with FDR who was president during the Great Depression. FDR was more pragmatic. He said he was willing to try anything if it helped the average American. That was what voters wanted to hear.

About FDR, one of America's most successful presidents. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2013/03/04/how-the-deal-w... Roosevelt was neither self-reflective nor a deep thinker

voters trusted Roosevelt to lead the country through eight years of economic desolation

As Kennedy emphasizes in “Freedom from Fear,” there was no master plan, no guiding philosophy, for the reforms that Roosevelt oversaw. Some were his idea; some were Congress’s; some were left over from the Hoover Administration. Roosevelt was >>improvising

Re: Statement on President Carter’s Health

#160

Post by dgeiser13 »

wkat4242 wrote: post #2

I have a lot of respect for Carter. Not only did he really seem interested in world peace instead of the warmongering from the MIC, he also remained active for all these years furthering humanitarian causes. And he was a brilliant nuclear engineer who cleaned up a nuclear accident with this team in Canada. I know he wasn't popular in the US which I don't really understand. It sounds to me like he fought the vested bi…

I was 10 years old when Jimmy Carter took office and he's always been popular with me.
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