The Right Thing

Our local library had a copy of Jimmy Carter’s new book, Peace: Not Apartheid. I have checked it out and I’m about halfway through it now. Good book. One of the more telling bits in the book was when President Carter describes how he was told, in 2005, by the current president (via a White House spokesperson) to not visit the President of Syria, Bashar al-Assad. Carter wrote, “In a somewhat heated conversation, I also expressed my view that refusing to communicate with leaders with whom we disagreed was counterproductive.”

This refusal to communicate is a hallmark of the current administration. Does anyone wonder why they cannot spread democracy? When democracy looks like their version of it, who would want it?

I have always admired President Carter, but this book shows his failings, in my mind. Instead of telling Bush he was going to go to Syria anyway; he complied with their request. And as I read the book, I see other times when Carter was more interested in political expediency than in doing what was right.