Former president Jimmy Carter will address the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, but not in person, only by videotape. This makes sense; the DNC would be terrified if Carter, who is now 87, rambled on without an end in sight. It also makes sense because there is no way the Obama campaign wants to remind Americans of the Carter legacy, and putting him on videotape may mean he won’t be viewed in prime-time.
The other key to the videotape is that the Obama campaign wants to make sure Carter doesn’t go off the rails. Earlier this year on MSNBC, Carter said: “I think of all the Republican candidates who were prominent, I think Romney would be the one that I would rather see have the slight possibility to be president.” When the interviewer asked whether he’d be comfortable with Romney as president, Carter said,
I’d rather have a Democrat. But I’d be comfortable. I think Romney has shown in the past in his previous years as a moderate – a progressive – that he was fairly competent as a governor and also running the Olympics.
It’s all too easy to remember the economy under Carter being a disaster; inflation rose from 4.8% in 1976 to 6.8% in 1977, 9% in 1978, 11% in 1979, and almost 12% by the time he ran against Reagan. The deficit, which Carter had promised to eliminate, grew from $27.7 billion to $59 billion in 1980. The reminder of his incompetence is not something Obama would like to show off; it’s too close to home.
2012 Democratic National Convention Chair Antonio Villaraigosa released a statement commending Carter:
President Carter is one of the greatest humanitarian leaders of our time and a champion of democracy around the globe. A lifelong champion of human rights and investments in education and energy to spur economic development, President Carter will provide unique insight into President Obama’s ability to move our country forward and why we need his vision and leadership for a second term.
Whoa there, Antonio, back up. A champion of human rights?
Carter coddled leftist dictators and paved the way for the despotic and dangerous regimes in North Korea and Iran. In 1980 Carter consorted with the media (sound familiar?) to invalidate elections in Rhodesia that had named moderate black Bishop Abel Muzorewa as prime minister, which allowed a subsequent election where Robert Mugabe, an avowed Marxist, won the vote. The results were disastrous for the country: a vicious dictatorship, the flight of farmers, which destroyed the farms, and a massive exodus from the country.
After the Nicaragua election in which Somosa’s election was certified by the OAS, he worked to replace him with the Marxist Sandanista Daniel Ortega. Carter helped to keep Hugo Chavez in power; in 2004 he certified Chavez’s victory in a recall election even though an independent polling firm had declared Chavez the loser.
Of course, Carter pressured the Shah of Iran to leave, paving the way for the mullahs in Iran. On 1994, on his own, Carter made a deal with Marxist dictator Kim Jung Il of North Korea that would supposedly keep him from gaining nuclear weapons. That seems to have worked well, too.
Carter’s animus toward Israel is well-nigh historic; in 2009 he even asked Obama to remove Hamas from the terrorist list. The man is and was an absolute disaster in every way.
But maybe that’s why Obama is allowing him to speak at all.; he’s desperate to find someone who makes him look good by comparison.
It won’t work, because it’s not true.
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