WASHINGTON, April 3, 2008

Carter Hints Backing Of Obama Over Clinton

Former President, A Superdelegate, Implies That He Will Support Illinois Senator

  • Jimmy Carter

    Jimmy Carter  (CBS/EARLY SHOW)

  • Photo Essay The Life Of Jimmy Carter

    Here's an overview of Jimmy Carter's tenure at the White House, 1977-81, and the years before and since.

  • Photo Essay Barack Obama

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(AP)  Former President Carter wouldn't quite say it, but he left little doubt this week about who he'd like to see in the White House next year.

Speaking to local reporters Wednesday on a trip to Nigeria, the former Democratic president noted that Barack Obama had won his home state of Georgia and his hometown of Plains.

"My children and their spouses are pro-Obama. My grandchildren are also pro-Obama," he said at a press conference, according to the Nigerian newspaper This Day. "As a superdelegate, I would not disclose who I am rooting for, but I leave you to make that guess."

Carter's spokeswoman confirmed the comments.

Asked about Jimmy Carter indicating he would go for Obama, Hillary Clinton communications director Howard Wolfson said: "Both Senator Clinton and President Clinton have a great deal of respect for President Carter and have enjoyed their relationship with him over the years. And, obviously, he is free to make whatever decision he thinks is appropriate with regard to the presidential choice."

Asked whether there was concern that Carter would be regarded as a "super-superdelegate" in the process, Wolfson said: "He is clearly a distinguished former leader of our party and is a superdelegate. And I'm sure that people will be interested in the choice that he makes. But no, nothing beyond that."

Carter is one of 13 Georgia Democratic superdelegates - elected officials and party elders who have a vote at the national convention this August in Denver and are free to support the candidate of their choice.

Only three of those have not indicated who they support: Carter, state Rep. Jim Marshall, and former Congressman Richard Ray, who is president of the Georgia chapter of the AFL-CIO.

Among those who have committed, Obama holds a 7-3 lead.

Carter was in Nigeria for a ceremony celebrating a reduction in Guinea worm disease in West Africa.

©MMVIII, The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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by katg21 April 6, 2008 3:25 PM EDT
Obama should reject Carter''s support.
Reply to this comment
by jedi08 April 5, 2008 4:15 PM EDT
ening for Obama. Its all over Billary
Reply to this comment
by ksh1022 April 5, 2008 3:27 PM EDT
Carter didn''t have any political sense when he was president and apparently he still doesn''t.
Reply to this comment
by dgwooster April 5, 2008 12:12 PM EDT
"The fact that so many Obama supporters have judged him to be "Black" because of the color of his skin seems incredibly racist and naive,..."
__________

You seem to know an awful lot about what someone else has gone through. As for me, I''ll leave it up to Obama to decide whether he''s black or not since he''s the one that''s had to live the life he has..
Reply to this comment
by neverkoolaid April 5, 2008 3:46 AM EDT
The fact that so many Obama supporters have judged him to be "Black" because of the color of his skin seems incredibly racist and naive,...

Obama is not legally under Federal law considered an African American and will never be the first "African American" president.

Read the research and why the media has silenced it:

http://kennethelamb.blogspot.com/
2008/02/barak-obama-questions-about-ethnic.html
Reply to this comment
by kansas1946 April 4, 2008 11:19 PM EDT
It is well known that Carter supports terrorist organisations such as the PLO and Hamas. It is no wonder he would support Obama. Both enable terrorism and Both (in Fact) are terrorists. The really big question why these people seem to be getting a free pass. Probably in the future there will be some epiphany about these two and to save face politician will act according to what is politically expedient. Sad but true; business as usual.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Posted by anappleadae at 12:10 PM : Apr 04, 2008
**********************************************

This has got to be the silliest post of the day.
Reply to this comment
by kansas1946 April 4, 2008 11:17 PM EDT
Perish the thought of having this guy either.

In college, Obama explains to a girl why he was reading Joseph Conrad''''s 1902 classic, "Heart of Darkness": "I read the book to help me understand just what it is that makes white people so afraid. Their demons. The way ideas get twisted around. I helps me understand how people learn to hate."

By contrast, Malcolm X''''s autobiography "spoke" to Obama. One line in particular "stayed with me," he says. "He spoke of a wish he''''d once had, the wish that the white blood that ran through him, there by an act of violence, might somehow be expunged."

Forget Rev. Jeremiah Wright -- Wright is Booker T. Washington compared to this guy.
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Posted by mudrose at 11:18 AM : Apr 04, 2008
******************************

I am sorry, but I am entirely missing the point here. You are apparently trying to paint Obama with a negative brush with this post, but I don''t see anything negative in anything he said? Did I miss something?
Reply to this comment
by April 4, 2008 10:44 PM EDT
Posted by taddles "Carter has been a very successful international broker of peace and is recognized by the world community as such. Your exceptionally foolish and uninformed comments leave little doubt as to the poor quality of your questionable education."
=====================================================
Some of us read "Jimmy Carter''s Legacy of Failure," December 2006; some of us read his colleagues'' criticisms of his books; some of us read the analysis of Carter''s attempts to broker Israel/Palestinian treaties that failed miserably; some of us read analysis of Carter''s "truce mongering" with North Korea and the utter failure of those provisions; some of us lived through the ''79 hostage fiasco when our President declared the White House hostage; and those who have done these things would tend to question your ever insulting someone else''s education. It is possible people like Chris Suellentrop, the late Democratic Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, Steven F. Hayward, "The Real Jimmy Carter: How Our Worst Ex-President Undermines American Foreign Policy, Coddles Dictators and Created the Party of Clinton and Kerry,"
"Jimmy Carter''s Jewish Problem," Jason Maoz, senior editor at Jewish Press, attorney Alan Dershowitz, friend and colleague Dr. Kenneth W. Stein, well-known Middle East scholar, and until recently a fellow of Emory University''s Carter Center, all suggest you need to do some more "research" before biting anappleadae.
Reply to this comment
by hook1950 April 4, 2008 6:37 PM EDT
Wow, Jimmy Carter''s going to get one right. Goes to show, it''s never too late.
Reply to this comment
by betty521 April 4, 2008 4:53 PM EDT
I''ll give credit to Carter for standing with the voters of his state. Certainly not like Kennedy and Kerry of Massachusetts. Massachusetts voted overwhelmingly for Clinton. They don''t care about their own voters. Richardson did this as well. Why do we have elected officials if they don''t represent the voters of their own state?
Reply to this comment
by bhappy2-2 April 4, 2008 4:19 PM EDT
So he not only has the support of Hanoi Jane Fonda, he has the support of a used-to-was-it president? Two very good reasons to vote for ANYONE else.
Reply to this comment
by taddles-2009 April 4, 2008 4:17 PM EDT
"You made a mistake. Jimmy has no spine. Other than that you post was great.

Posted by mudrose at 11:08 AM : Apr 04, 2008"


Yet another ignorant post from the great trailer park slag.
Reply to this comment
by taddles-2009 April 4, 2008 4:16 PM EDT
"It is well known that Carter supports terrorist organisations such as the PLO and Hamas. It is no wonder he would support Obama.
Posted by anappleadae at 12:10 PM : Apr 04, 2008"


That is just stupid. Carter has been a very successful international broker of peace and is recognized by the world community as such. Your exceptionally foolish and uninformed comments leave little doubt as to the poor quality of your questionable education.
Reply to this comment
by blkpresident April 4, 2008 3:38 PM EDT
18 more days until PA. voters gives lil'' missy the hint where she belongs. Sorry'' bout her lil pipedream about a woman becoming president (smirk).
Reply to this comment
by blackspirit3 April 4, 2008 3:33 PM EDT
REV WRIGHT STORY - In 1961, a young African-American man, after hearing President John F. Kennedy''s challenge to, "Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country," gave up his student deferment, left college in Virginia and voluntarily joined the Marines. In 1963, this man, having completed his two years of service in the Marines, volunteered again to become a Navy corpsman. The man did so well in corpsman school that he was the valedictorian and became a cardiopulmonary technician. Not surprisingly, he was assigned to the Navy''s premier medical facility, Bethesda Naval Hospital, as a member of the commander in chief''s medical team, and helped care for President Lyndon B. Johnson after his 1966 surgery. For his service on the team, which he left in 1967, the White House awarded him three letters of commendation. What is even more remarkable is that this man entered the Marines and Navy not many years after the two branches began to become integrated. While this young man was serving six years on active duty, Vice President *** Cheney, who was born the same year as the Marine/sailor, received five deferments, four for being an undergraduate and graduate student and one for being a prospective father. Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, both five years younger than the African-American youth, used their student deferments to stay in college until 1968. Both then avoided going on active duty through family connections. Who is the real patriot?
Reply to this comment
by anappleadae April 4, 2008 3:27 PM EDT
It is amazing what triggers a person''s outrage. Some of these reasons are extremly shallow compared to the real life and death struggle.

Real outrage should surface when National Security is challenged do to the fact that our law enforcement or intelligent services are being blind sided because of inept practice. Maybe it is a good thing that the laws banning assault weapons have expired. I suggest that those who sense the same pending chaos as I weapon up.
Reply to this comment
by anappleadae April 4, 2008 3:10 PM EDT
It is well known that Carter supports terrorist organisations such as the PLO and Hamas. It is no wonder he would support Obama. Both enable terrorism and Both (in Fact) are terrorists. The really big question why these people seem to be getting a free pass. Probably in the future there will be some epiphany about these two and to save face politician will act according to what is politically expedient. Sad but true; business as usual.
Reply to this comment
by jedi08 April 4, 2008 2:47 PM EDT
Mudros and RowdyTexan2. you two are sounding sooo desperate. Its soooooo Great. You guys are always my morning entertainment. A bunch of wimpy women crying that Billary is dying a slow painful death.

This race will be over either:

1. After NC votes
2. After the final state votes
3. (this is a new one out today and really funny) Obama is going to pay Billary debt as part of a deal for her to not only drop out of the race but also to then go away so he doesn''t have to include her as any part of his administration
Reply to this comment
by jockh April 4, 2008 2:22 PM EDT
Why Hillary cannot win.

Hillary Clintons lack of transparency, hiding the dubious sources of her funding by refusing to release her tax returns, her repeated lies about experience (misspeaking is one thing, repeating it over and over makes it a FLAT LIE ), negative campaigning, telling outright lies about her role in NAFTA, trying to change the rules as you go along. Thinking she had the nomination in hand as soon as she said I am running for President, like she was entitled to it and her attempts to inject race into the campaign have given voters a negative albeit accurate view of her.
She is willing to try to steal the nomination from Obama knowing full well that to overturn the will of the voters would seriously hurt the Democrat Party and cost us the election.
Its so funny how the Clintons say "let the voters vote", but at the same time they say "but after they vote let the super Delegates change what the people voted for."

So its not ok to disregard voters in MI and FL but its ok to disregard voters across the whole country %u2026 that%u2019s some democracy Clinton is advocating !!
Reply to this comment
by mudrose-2009 April 4, 2008 2:18 PM EDT
Perish the thought of having this guy either.

In college, Obama explains to a girl why he was reading Joseph Conrad''s 1902 classic, "Heart of Darkness": "I read the book to help me understand just what it is that makes white people so afraid. Their demons. The way ideas get twisted around. I helps me understand how people learn to hate."

By contrast, Malcolm X''s autobiography "spoke" to Obama. One line in particular "stayed with me," he says. "He spoke of a wish he''d once had, the wish that the white blood that ran through him, there by an act of violence, might somehow be expunged."

Forget Rev. Jeremiah Wright -- Wright is Booker T. Washington compared to this guy.
Reply to this comment
See all 138 Comments

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