Jimmy

[AdamSmith]

"...I met Jimmy Carter twice -- the second time in 2010 when he was 85 and the head of the Carter Center in Atlanta, and the first time in 1976 when he was 51 and running for president, giving a speech to college students in Cambridge, Massachusetts. After the speech, a young African-American woman with a Southern accent standing next to me said to him (half as question and half as prayer), "I hope you'll actually do the things you say you'll do." He looked her in the eyes with an intensity that I'll never forget and said, "I promise you, I will." In my bones I knew he meant it, and that was enough for me then, as it is now..."

http://m.deseretnews.com/article/865635957/In-retrospect-Well-done-Jimmy-Carter.html?pg=all&ref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F%3Fref%3Dhttps%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F

[RA1]

I know he tried but was completely unsuccessful. He thought he could change the burearacy in DC and, so far, it is implacable. His cabinet members, like many others, were criminals. According to a friend of mine who works in a large charitable organization, Jimmy will not return any communication to include requests by his family asking for help. It seems his "public personna" far exceeds the "real" Jimmy Carter.

However, I wish him no harm.

Best regards,

RA1

[AdamSmith]

Oddly, possibly, I understand each of those personality attributes, and don't think they undercut my admiration for him. We all live in the real world, and navigate its shoals, external and internal.

[RA1]

I don't think those personaltiy traits are necessarily attributes but I never said or thought he wasn't human.

Best regards,

RA1

[lookin]

http://m.deseretnews.com/article/865635957/In-retrospect-Well-done-Jimmy-Carter.html?pg=all&ref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F%3Fref%3Dhttps%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F

He worked incredibly hard. He had personal integrity. He had unbending moral purpose. He didn’t lie.

I don't need it any better than that.

[RA1]

Even if true, what does it prove? Good guys finish last? The US voters cannot recognize a good thing if it bit them on the toes? I am sorry that he is sick. I hope he does not suffer much in his final days. However, his feet are just as much clay as any others.

Best regards,

RA1

[AdamSmith]

The Economist, a fairly rock-ribbed center-right editorial point of view, never misses a chance to express their fierce admiration for post-presidential Carter. They deeply admire how he, as they love to say, comforts the afflicted and afflicts the comfortable. For example that he was long one of the only public voices to call Israel out on its brutality toward the Palestinians.

[RA1]

Apparently we will never agree about Jimmy so let us agree to disagree and go on. He is neither the best saint nor worst sinner to appear on this Earth.

Best regards,

RA1