WELCOME BACK, CARTER

Welcome Back, Carter went to press on the eve of the 25^th anniversary of President Carter’s mediation of the Camp David Accords between Egypt and Israel.  This is rightfully acclaimed as President Carter’s greatest achievement, yet the volatility in the Middle East in the early 21^st century shows just how far away that region of the world remains from any semblance of a lasting peace.  The liberation of the Iraqi people from Saddam Hussein has removed one of the most brutal dictators in recent memory, but the U.S. occupation of Iraq has also heightened resentment of America amongst a vast majority of Middle Eastern nations.

President Bush’s war on terror remains his number one priority, and his call for the destruction of the al-Queda organization and its allies in the wake of the heinous attacks of September 11 has been widely supported by the American people.  While great progress has been made on that front, the U.S. road map to peace in the Middle East is in danger of being cast aside in its entirety, as evidenced by the continued suicide attacks on Israel by Hamas, the Palistinean terror group.

As noted earlier, Jimmy Carter has far and away the highest standing of any American in the Middle East, and history has proven that his credibility would offer the best chance of an agreement between these two bitter adversaries.  How Carter would conduct a war on terror is subject for considerable speculation, but of course he would certainly need to address that national priority during any attempt for the Democratic nomination and the presidency.

For those who approve the war on terrorist organizations, but disapprove of the exaggerated justifications for invading Iraq; for those who feel that while the liberation of Iraq from Saddam Hussein was a worthy cause, but unwittingly further inflamed the tinderbox that is the Middle East; for those who seriously question whether President Bush can ever obtain the respect and prestige necessary to preside over a Middle East peace agreement; and for those who have lost faith in the Bush economic plan, with the elimination of nearly three million jobs in the U.S. since he assumed office:

No Democrat could frame a more vivid alternative to the policies of the Bush Administration than former President Jimmy Carter.  Not only is he regarded by acclamation as the world’s preeminent champion of human rights; but his stature in the eyes of the world – the highest of any American – is bolstered by an unassailable integrity, and his works on behalf of the impoverished, the disease-ridden, and those who simply desire to live in peace and a democratic society have provided a greater clarity of the goals of his first term in office.  His disciplined and active lifestyle has enabled him to age gracefully, and he has admitted on many occasions how much better a president he would have been if he knew then all that he knows now as a result of a long and productive life.  Shouldn’t wisdom be considered the most essential presidential attribute? And if that’s the case, there’s no doubt that Carter should be the Democratic nominee.

Regarding domestic policy, any Democratic president who cancelled pork-barrel Democratic water projects can never be considered a tax-and-spend liberal; to the contrary, stories of Carter’s tightness with a dollar are legendary among his friends.  As previously mentioned, Carter’s tell-it-like-it-is-manner evokes memories of Harry Truman, his favorite predecessor; while Truman’s predecessor, Franklin D. Roosevelt, once provided a statement that has come to best summarize the world view held by Jimmy Carter: “Governments can err, presidents do make mistakes, but the immortal Dante tells us that divine Justice weighs the sins of the cold-blooded and the sins of the warm hearted in different scales.  Better the occasional faults of a government that lives in a spirit of charity than the constant omissions of a government frozen in the ice of its own indifference.”

So, having been stunned by my own survey results, and then being taken aback by Carter’s lengthy record of achievement, I admit to deviating from my traditional independent leanings and evolving into an unabashed Carter partisan.  I think the remaining question should not be why Democrats would want Jimmy Carter as their 2004 presidential nominee – but rather, why not?  He’s already made a world of difference.