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b8de67a3 | 1 years ago (raw) | export | reply | flag 
 As tributes pour in for #JimmyCarter's 99th birthday, I'm reminded of a remark I once heard (which I'll have to paraphrase):

Jimmy Carter may not have been the best President of the US, but he sure as hell was the best ex-president!

Which, I think is not too far wide of the mark
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c2adcb12 | 1 years ago (raw) | root | parent | reply | flag 
 @43d7c4ea 

I've been saying for years that Jimmy Carter has been a far better ex-president than president. Of course, that would be wholly undeserved damnation by faint praise.

 Ronald Reagan was able to truthfully claim he was building on Carter's policies with support for the Contras (oligarch-backed anti-socialist terrorists in Nicaragua) and for neoliberalism. Carter did plenty of the evil that it seems all U.S. politicians do.

It was as ex-president that Carter accused Israel of apartheid, generally expressed support for progressive values, and of course volunteered for Habitat For Humanity. Not as president.

The discrepancy probably deserves exploration.