In case you missed it, former president Jimmy Carter was on the Daily Show a few nights ago. Here’s the video.
Carter was the first president that I cast a vote for – in his failed re-election bid in 1980. I have to wonder how different things might have been had Teddy Kennedy supported his health care plan.
Carter is making the rounds advertising his new book. Here is a related “60 Minutes” story and video.
i saw that last night when it aired. An amazing interview. And I must say, the Clinton interview on Letterman (which he does most every year when in NY for the annual CGI event) was also excellent. But the Carter one was priceless. Here we have a President who was trashed for his “I lust in my heart” remark .. and he actually had Jon Stewart speechless by his remarks on the “m..” word part of the Deleware Senate race. Great fun.
And on a more serious note for those that missed it, I would also recommend Charlie Rose’s interview with the President of Iran from last night.
Posted by js001 | Tuesday, September 21, 2010, 9:38 amViv, Carter was also the first president I voted for. In 1976. I voted for John Anderson in 1980.
Posted by steve vaughan | Tuesday, September 21, 2010, 10:24 amYou’re an oldster. I can say that because you’re older than me
as I wasn’t old enough to vote in 1976.
Posted by vjp | Tuesday, September 21, 2010, 10:27 amJimmy has always been such a pleasant, personable politician. As a Southerner, he charmed many of us, including me, into volunteering for his campaign for President.
At first, we were all so very happy to have a Southerner in the White House and to his credit, he did restore a sense of honor to the Presidency.
However with the outrageous double-digit interest rates, inflation and long gas lines, to pay ever increasing gas prices, most Americans could not get Mr. Carter out of the White House fast enough.
I will read Jimmy Carter’s new book, but I expect it will be yet another attempt by him to make his Presidency seem like something other than the dismal failure that it was.
In his defense, all that happened during his one term of office was not all his fault. He simply served at a very challenging time, but his monetary policy, foreign policy, and domestic policy decisions, all served to exacerbate, rather than to moderate the problems of that time.
Historical accounts point to the Egyptian-Israeli peace accords as Mr. Carter’s hallmark achievement, but his loss to Ronald Reagan was the one thing that he did that truly helped get America back on the road to prosperity.
Jimmy Carter is a fine man and an exemplar for his fellow citizens. He was just a terrible President and Commander-in-Chief.
Posted by J. Tyler Ballance | Tuesday, September 21, 2010, 3:00 pm