Thursday, August 31, 2006

Don't get Carter. He won't do - Comment - Times Online

Don't get Carter. He won't do - Comment - Times Online: "The current Iranian regime menaces Israel and has lied to the EU about its nuclear programme. It must not interpret Khatami's visit as proof of the value of bellicosity. Khatami must get the message that the West will be receptive to concessions, but will face down belligerence. There lies the problem: Khatami's host in the US is Jimmy Carter.

Carter's poor reputation as president reflects a record not so much of incompetence as paralysis. He led his Administration mainly in the sense that its internal disagreements faithfully reflected his own philosophical chaos and administrative ineptitude. In domestic policy Carter zigzagged left and right, baffling equally the environmental activists he patronised and the churchgoers whose social values he claimed to share. His proposed system of federal energy controls failed comprehensively. In 1980 he acknowledged that inflation was near a "crisis stage".

He proclaimed human rights while lauding the Shah of Iran's repressive regime. When the Shah's revolutionary successors held 52 American diplomats hostage for 14 months, Ayatollah Khomeini accurately sneered: "Neither does Carter have the guts for military action, nor would anyone listen to him."

3 comments:

Unknown said...

Remember the deal he worked out with North Korea? nuff said.

Charlie Martin said...

I have a bone to pick with this article. Carter's problem was not only paralysis, it was also incompetence. Anyone who remembers 1979 knows this.

Picky picky.

cf said...

WORST President ever.Do you know he has all the plans for his state funeral already written out. The honor guard that takes him to the Rotunda is instructed not to wear metal cleats.

Does he imagine in his fevered imagination a lot of people are planning on showing up?