A Principled Man!!

From January 1977 until January 1981, James Earl Carter served as President of the United States. Was Jimmy Carter a good president? You would be hard-pressed to find someone who would say he was. Was he a bad president? Personally, I don't believe so. Was he a misunderstood president? There is little doubt about that; he certainly was.

Jimmy Carter rode to the presidency on the tail of an animal known as "corruption." The USA had survived the audacity of Watergate and the Nixon presidency, when personal power and hatred became more important to the man in the White House than the Constitution of the nation. Then, Nixon's hand-picked successor issued a pardon to Nixon. I fully understand Gerald Ford's logic in issuing the pardon, but the country wanted more retribution handed down to the former president than a slap on the wrist.

Thus, in rides Jimmy Carter on his white stallion. He is considered a good Christian man. He is an engineer who attended the US Naval Academy and rose to the rank of lieutenant. And, most importantly as the 1970's were coming to an end, he was a Washington D.C. "outsider."

We frequently hear politicians running for national office label themselves as "outsiders." Take note! If they are really outsiders we should not elect them. Washington D.C. doesn't take well to outsiders. True outsiders lack the necessary connections that makes Washington D.C. work for them. True outsiders don't understand the inner workings of the government. And true outsiders aren't trusted by others in power who fear their way of doing things could be compromised.

So Jimmy Carter, an outsider, became president and his presidency is considered by most to be a failure--much of that failure is associated with the Iran Hostage Crisis and an energy crisis. Don't get me wrong. The nation survived and there were some positive accomplishments such as the Camp David Accords. But Jimmy Carter, the outsider from Plains, Ga., was destined to be a one-term president.

Recently Jimmy Carter was interviewed by Time in its "10 Questions" feature. Carter has become a world-renowned humanitarian in his post-presidential life. He founded the Carter Center in 1982 and that agency has spent the past two decades working to improve the quality of life for millions around the world. In 2002, Carter was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Additionally, Carter has served as an international observer of elections, has been a valued participant in Habitat for Humanity, and has been critical of the unseemly behavior of other presidents--most notably Bill Clinton and his pardon of Mark Rich and George W. Bush for his overall approach to the presidency.

The Bush White House, following the Carter rebuke, referred to the former president comments as irrelevant. That certainly isn't the way I perceive things. Case in point. Carter was principled enough to criticize presidents from both political parties. He did not show partisanship, but called it like he saw it. He chastised presidents whom he felt had crossed the line in abuse of power.

Would I want Jimmy Carter as president again. The answer is a resounding NO. His lack of inside knowledge of government power left him just as ineffective as an outside like Ross Perot would have been. But do I respect this man who has devoted his past-presidential days to the good of society and the world. I have often said that "Jimmy Carter was not a good president. But, I believe him to be the BEST ex-president we have ever had."