The Worldly Philospher

"I think as far as the adverse impact on the nation around the world, this administration has been the worst in history." - That was a BBC interview that started the flap for former President Jimmy Carter.

Here is how he tried to cover his tracks - He said his remarks might have been "careless or misinterpreted." He further tried to cover his tracks by claiming he was not comparing the overall administration and was certainly not talking personally about any president. It is hard to misinterpret Mr. Carter's remarks. But then it is also hard to forget Mr. Carter's record for gaffes of similar dimensions.

In February, Joshua Muravchik, writing for Commentary, described Mr. Carter as our "worst ex-president." Remember this was the guy who ran for governor with the owner of the Pickrick, racist Lester Maddox. He called himself (with his running mate) "basically a redneck." You may also remember that in 1976 Mr. Carter called for raising taxes on every person "above the median income." When some wag pointed out what the median income in the country actually was, he quickly covered with the memorable quip "That is not the median I meant." And this guy was an engineer who allegedly did some work in basic math while studying in the Academy.

His judgment on the quality of leaders is a bit speckled. Yugoslav Dictator Tito was “a man who believes in human rights” but also commented that the "corageous leader" had protected the freedom of the people for 40 years." Among his admired people were Edmund Gierek (Poland's Stalinist - deposed by the Solidarity movement after Carter had been run out of office. ) He also thought highly of Nicolae Ceausescu and Slobodan Milosevic. Muravchik also spends a good deal of time talking about the Georgia peanut farmer's penchant for trying to negotiate deals with dictators like Kim Il Sung. His article did not go into detail of Carter's bizarre quest to certify rigged elections like the one which put Hugo Chavez into absolute control of Venezuela.

So pardon me but I am led to believe a) Mr. Carter has no sense of judgment and b) his assessment on the qualities of world or national leaders is not entirely up to reasonable standards. That does not explain my own feelings about our current president but it does suggest that Mr. Carter should have learned something in the Naval Academy - especially that loose lips sink ships. But then when you are on a mission, those details don't mean much.