Is President Carter Irrelevant?

By: Michael Wuebben
Topics: In The News

(AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

Former President Jimmy Carter and the Bush administration traded jabs this weekend. Mr. Carter told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette he thinks President Bush is the "worst in history." The White House countered, saying the former president is "increasingly irrelevant."

Mr. Carter followed with a "my bad" moment on NBC's "Today" this morning, saying his remarks were "careless or misinterpreted."

So is Mr. Carter becoming irrelevant? I talked to CBS News consultant and presidential historian Douglas Brinkley, who says definitely not.

"He's not only a Nobel Peace Prize winner but he's listened to all over the world," said Brinkley, citing Mr. Carter's efforts around the globe to battle disease, poverty and political corruption through his work with the Carter Center.

"(The administration) may find him annoying ... or say his actions are disparaging to the troops, but irrelevant he is not."

However, Mr. Carter himself may feel otherwise. In his "Today" interview he said, "I don't claim to have any relevancy. I have a completely unofficial capacity."

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by jcorbin1958 May 22, 2007 5:54 PM EDT: Ha! Ha! I suppose Jimmy Carter thought of himself as a good President! He was a joke! How dare he criticize President Bush! Mr. Peanut brain needs to shut up!; Reply to this comment


by shebagrafton May 21, 2007 11:17 PM EDT: If a former President is irrelevant to Bush, how relevant do you think a citizen is?; Reply to this comment


by norcalruss May 21, 2007 11:10 PM EDT: How ironic that a spokesman for a lame duck president with a 28% approval rating, and whose stupidity in Iraq cost his party both houses, would refer to someone else as IRRELEVANT. The CHIMP is IRRELEVANT not Carter; Reply to this comment


by spike55_bmw May 21, 2007 10:20 PM EDT: I've never sat in the chair as the president of the most powerful nation on the earth but Jimmy Carter has. He, like you and me, can say what he wants because it is still a free country, although it seems many don't see it that way but that percentage decreases daily.

With all of the recent revelations by Geo. Tenet, etc., it is amasing to me that so many don't see how unwise it is to have a staff, a party, a country of only "Yes-Men" & "Yes-Women". Anyone with a successful business knows this is a recipe for problems when no one challenges the institutional thinking.

So when someone of Carter's experience voices his concerns / impressions that reflect 49-50% of the 2004 presidential voters, and that percentage has grown since then, he is relevant.; Reply to this comment


by wandomannie May 21, 2007 10:18 PM EDT: Carter is a mean-spirited old man who failed as a president. He is pathetic. As another poster noted, Slick and Peanut broke with tradition and have blasted Bush with impunity. I have no doubt that future Republican presidents will do the same to the Dems. This doesn't help us as a nation. I expect a former president, even a failed one like Carter, to grasp such a simple fact. Obviously, I expect too much. He's been spending way too much time on Moveon.org.; Reply to this comment


by sty1 May 21, 2007 9:17 PM EDT: If God and truth are irrevelant then Jimmy Carter is too..YOU G D fool; Reply to this comment


by ericmichael1 May 21, 2007 8:46 PM EDT: It is just not right to sum up the total of a man's life by one statement he has made. Especially when he is aging.

I did not appreciate the man when he was in office. Inflation raged like at no other time in American history. In the post-Vietnam world, the U.S. was at its lowest ebb militarily and in status.

He was my commander-in-chief for the end of his term. He could have sent troops in en masse after the taking of the hostages at the U.S. embassy in Iran. But he did not. He relied on diplomacy. And he was derided when the day Reagan came into the picture. The agreement was followed through by Iran and the hostages came home, but not until after they had humiliated him and his successful efforts.

Still, all of these years later, I must admit that perhaps, through his patience and faith in diplomacy, many 18 year olds' lives were spared, including mine.

Many forget that Reagan made a tragic blunder by forcing his way into Lebanon and it cost many good men their lives. But I cannot forget, because a good friend of mine died there.

I cannot agree with everything that Mr. Carter has done in his life. But, on the other hand, I am alive today to not agree.

So, if you do not mind, although I am not a Democrat or a fan of his, I will forgive him his words said and his deeds done.

Eric; Reply to this comment


by onegreensix May 21, 2007 7:37 PM EDT: If anyone, or anything, is becoming irrelevant it would have to be CBS News.; Reply to this comment


by May 21, 2007 7:36 PM EDT: I have to disagree with Johnpatrick9 in that this is not an issue of free speech at all. The First Amendment reads: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances."

This is not about Congress attempting to remove Carter's right to express himself. Of course Jimmy has the "Right" to say whatever he feels. What we are discussing here is etiquette. If you were a bride one day and then the next day you were invited as a guest to a wedding. Would you walk around the reception of the wedding you were attending as a guest and tell the other guests how ugly the wedding dress and boring the wedding was compared to yours. You had your time; and now either enjoy or not, but be gracious.

This "Free Speech" argument is lame and not well thought-out enough to even read the Constitution before saying such nonsense and as such is just an emotional statement that says more about the ignorance of the commenter.; Reply to this comment


by cornelis2 May 21, 2007 7:36 PM EDT: President Carter is far more relevant to the world I want to see than the lame-duck president currently trying to impose his self-serving and ill-advised policies. I am trying so very hard to deal with what this country has become under the Bush administration but I increasingly feel abandoned, betrayed and lost. It will take a very strong and moral person to step up and bring us back to the America I loved for so many years.; Reply to this comment