Over the last 10 years, when a famous politician dies at an old age like Jimmy Carter did yesterday, I think about my mother.
This is a symptom of growing up in a FDR/JFK/MLK Democratic household. Politics was part of the daily conversation. And for four years, Jimmy Carter dominated that conversation. My mother, God rest her, loved the man.
As a religious woman who was also appalled by the judgmental religion-as-a-weapon religiosity of the Moral Majority, she appreciated Carter’s faith based in empathy and good works. In keeping with my mother’s deep dislike of Reagan, I often heard her point out that Reagan only went to church when there were TV cameras while Carter taught Sunday School in the White House.
As I grew older and learned more about Carter, I discovered why he was a one-term president. One of the biggest mistakes was enabling neoliberalism to take hold, which led to some really bad policies like a focus on deregulation. This infuriated liberals in Congress and Carter wasn’t exactly skilled at winning them over. Also, the Iran hostage rescue was a very bad idea and poorly executed.
At the same time, the Carter presidency definitely had some good things. The Camp David Accords, signed by Carter, Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin in September 1978 is probably about the best semblance of a peace treaty in that region in since WWII, and has mostly held between the two nations, even with Israel’s lurch to the far right.
Carter also installed solar panels on the White House roof, which Reagan promptly ripped out. He was great in other environmental issues, such as the response to Love Canal and the Superfund program, protecting public lands from fossil fuel exploration, and stressed energy conservation. The latter made him rather unpopular as a lot of Americans didn’t want to put on a sweatshirt inside in the winter and just pined to blast the heat. Our history has examples of us pulling together but also there are a lot of examples of national selfishness, and Carter took the hit for this particular one.
Another thing of note regarding Carter, and that is the second instance of Republican fuckery with meddling in foreign policy crises with a goal of influencing elections after Nixon screwing with Vietnam peace talks before the 1968 election.
Remember the right-wing plot to sabotage Jimmy Carter’s re-election by urging Iran to hold American hostages longer? You don’t? It’s a shocking example of the American right’s treachery that more people should know about. (Gift link to 2023 NYT story.)
— Mark Jacob (@markjacob.bsky.social) 2024-12-29T21:55:40.644Z
I am old enough to remember giving any credence to rumors about this plot made you a crazed conspiracy nut. Well, well, well…
It is also worth noting that the DC media was as bad with Carter as it was with Biden, including inexcusably mean-spirited coverage of his adolescent daughter Amy. This treatment of Amy thankfully hasn’t been matched since with other adolescent White House kids outside of possibly Rush Limbaugh, perhaps one of the worst human beings ever to infest this planet, and his calling Chelsea Clinton a dog.
Of course, Carter had the greatest post-presidency of any ex-president, dedicating his life to helping others. His Habitat for Humanity work is perhaps the best-known example but it is also worth noting his foundation’s work to eradicate Guinea worm disease successfully. In 1986, the Carter Center took on Guinea worm disease, a debilitating parasitic infection that afflicted more than 3 million people across 21 countries. At the time, the disease caused immense suffering, spreading through contaminated water sources and leaving communities in cycles of pain and poverty. Through relentless effort, education, and collaboration with global health organizations, the number of cases has been reduced to just a handful, bringing the disease to the brink of elimination.
In addition, he spoke up when he felt it was necessary, including about Israel’s horrible treatment of Palestinians. This made him an important moral voice.
An honest assessment of the man’s political career is a decidedly mixed bag, but there is no taking away the good he did as an ex-president. An interesting coda to his life is the fact that flags are required to be flown at half mast for 30 days after a president dies. This means the flags will be at half mast during Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 20, which is fitting and probably will drive Trump nuts (if he obeys the rule, that is).
The last word goes to one of Carter’s favorite bands and his favorite song of theirs, the Allman Brothers.
