Not Fade Away

I believe it has long been a standing tradition for former U.S. presidents to gracefully leave the world stage after their time in office, to write their memoirs and to, above all, refrain from engaging in policy debates with or about the current president. This is how the United States, for over two hundred years, has shown the rest of the world that power can be peacefully transfered from one administration to another. And apparently, someone forgot to tell former President Carter.

While I once admired President Carter and actually met him on two occasions, I no longer find him or his opinions praiseworthy. Quite the contrary, Jimmy Carter now seems to be a bitter, old man who takes a great deal of money from questionable Arab contributors, makes anti-Semetic remarks and has recently said about President Bush "I think as far as the adverse impact on the nation around the world, this administration has been the worst in history." Carter went on to criticized Bush for having "zero peace talks" in Israel. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought the Camp David Accords ended all the problems of the Middle East - didn't they?

For someone who is going down in history as one of the worst U.S. presidents ever to be so critical of another president is just unseemly.