The legacy of Jimmy Carter

[Mr.Moto]

@BrainGlutton

And what “diplomatic efforts” has he “undermined” that should not have been undermined?

Clinton’s efforts in North Korea and Haiti come to mind.

[BrainGlutton]

@Mr. Moto

Clinton’s efforts in North Korea and Haiti come to mind.

Don’t recall Carter spoiling anything there. Details?

[Mr.Moto]

I mentioned North Korea earlier in the thread.

In Haiti, while the Clinton Administration was trying desperately to support a democratically elected President Aristide, Carter was intervening on behalf of General Cedras, the military ruler of Haiti at the time. and working in direct opposition to U.S. policy as expressed by the administration.

Carter numerous times caused issues with the Clinton-era State Department that required considerable effort by that Democratic administration to manage.

I don’t believe an ex-president of either party should persue foreign policy goals that conflict with what the government is doing. Carter, though, does this, and he doesn’t care whether he embarasses a Republican or a Democratic president in the process.

[BrainGlutton]

@Mr. Moto

I mentioned North Korea earlier in the thread.

But Carter wasn’t undermining Clinton, he was working for him. And succeeded as well as he could have under the circumstances. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_carter#Post-presidency:

In 1994, Carter went to North Korea at the behest of President Clinton during a period of rising tensions on the Korean Peninsula that were caused by North Korea’s expulsion of investigators from the International Atomic Energy Agency and that country’s threat to begin processing spent nuclear fuel. Carter met with North Korean President Kim Il Sung resulting in the signing of the Agreed Framework, under which North Korea agreed to stop processing nuclear fuel, in exchange for a return to normalized relations, oil deliveries and two light water reactors to replace its graphite reactors. North Korea did not abide by this agreement and concealed its violation.

Though the Agreed Framework negotiated by Jimmy Carter was widely hailed at the time as a diplomatic achievement, it soon became apparent that despite their promises to Carter, North Korea had no intention of stopping its nuclear weapons program. In 2005, North Korea announced that it had nuclear weapons.

@Mr. Moto

In Haiti, while the Clinton Administration was trying desperately to support a democratically elected President Aristide, Carter was intervening on behalf of General Cedras, the military ruler of Haiti at the time. and working in direct opposition to U.S. policy as expressed by the administration.

Cite?

@Mr. Moto

I don’t believe an ex-president of either party should persue foreign policy goals that conflict with what the government is doing.

Why not?

[Ca3799]

I’m not very faniliar with that situation, but hasn’t Carter stated that he works with whomever is in power in a non-political way in order to simply gain acess to the people he want to help?

[BrainGlutton]

@Mr. Moto

In Haiti, while the Clinton Administration was trying desperately to support a democratically elected President Aristide, Carter was intervening on behalf of General Cedras, the military ruler of Haiti at the time. and working in direct opposition to U.S. policy as expressed by the administration.

Actually, what Carter did in that instance was persuade Clinton to change his policy. And it was a brilliant achievement: Cedras stepped down and Aristide was restored, without a U.S. military invasion! (That wouldn’t be the part that sticks in your craw, would it? )

http://www-tech.mit.edu/V114/N42/haiti2.42w.html:

How Clinton - wanting to avoid a hugely unpopular and risky military invasion - came to accept Carter’s view is much of the story of the last four days. Clinton ended up adjusting his policies in the face of Carter’s arguments that he had misunderstood Cedras and the Haitian psyche. Over the course of more than 20 hours of negotiation between Haiti and Washington, the Clinton policy became Carterized, its edges rounded, its demands softened, its rhetoric muted.

And it produced, 30 minutes before a final deadline, an agreement sufficient to halt an invasion scheduled to begin at 12:01 a.m. Monday.

What emerges from interviews and statements by participants describing the last four days is a portrait of Carter moving along one personal and policy track, and Clinton another, until the two merged after Clinton’s address to the nation and the White House realization that a Carter mission was the last hope to avert an imminent violent confrontation with Haiti’s military. Carter planted the seeds, he said in a lengthy interview with CNN Monday, with a memo to Clinton earlier this month and a conversation with him the day before the Thursday address.

“Undermining,” my ass! Best ex-president in American history! Blessed are the peacemakers!

[BrainGlutton]

@Mr. Moto

I don’t believe an ex-president of either party should persue foreign policy goals that conflict with what the government is doing. Carter, though, does this, and he doesn’t care whether he embarasses a Republican or a Democratic president in the process.

I repeat, why not? A politician is a politician. If Carter were not an ex-president but a prospective president – a prominent governor or senator being seriously considered for a presidential bid in 2008 – obviously there would be nothing improper in his undermining an opposing-party administration in all aspects, including its foreign policy. It would be the expected thing. The Pubs did it throught Clinton’s presidency. So why can’t an ex-prez do the same?

And remember, just because your political career has peaked, with the presidency, doesn’t mean you’re out of politics. You don’t have to accept the role of elder nonstatesman, you can remain active. You can even run for public office again – it’s rare but not unheard of. John Quincy Adams served one term as president, then went back to Congress, where he served 17 more years until his death.