Jimmy Carter, Winner of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize - Is he America's Greatest Ex-President?

self

[jstone78]

Any thoughts on these or other Presidents, who may have had successful careers after the White House?

[jstone78]

{"....Even Nixon had some modest success as a foreign policy consultant after the war...."}

Correction. I intended to say "after Watergate", rather than "after the war".

[Russ]

Whether he's the greatest ex-president or not is a good
topic for debate. I'm just glad he's an ex-president.

[William McKinley]

The greatest ex-President of modern times may also be the one who is arguably our worst President of modern times. I don't mean Jimmy Carter. I mean Richard Nixon.

Carter was, and still is, a buffoon.

[CyberSpartacus]

Mother Theressa belived in socialism too. But if her policies had been enacted in India, millions would have been condemned to starvation. To be a saint it takes more than good intentions. It takes productive and beneficial actions. Mr. Carter has done nothing but support our totalitarian enemies, and scold us for not giving more to these dysfunctional societies.

[elbucko]

Carter can now have a Nobel Prize party with Yassar Arafat.

[TheBattman]

Of course, you also have to look at the organization that awards the Nobel Peace Prize......"great" is their opinion.

Didn't Arafat receive this award once?

[TexanAmerican]

I believe Carter is a good Christian and a good, if not misguided, man. However, I find it hard to forgive the damage he did to our country from 1977-81.

[Landru]

"No sane parent would want their daughter to work for Clinton, but Carter seems to have his morals in check."

No sane lech like Clinton would've wanted Carter's daughter, either.

...no kidding; I *think* I've just had a Zen experience.

[elbucko]

Teddy Roosevelt became a big game safari hunter for a while, before later making a fool of himself by damaging the Republican Party in 1912.

Theodore Roosevelt ALSO won the Nobel Peace Prize for brokering a peace in the Russo-Japanese War.

[joyful1]

Jimmy Jumbo is the greatest Democrat president who ever lived! He's the worst compared to any other party.

[<1/1,000,000th%]

This is a joke, right??

Best Presidents of the 20th century IMHO: Dwight D. Eisenhower, Ronald Reagan and Theodore Roosevelt.

[Spook86]

I think we need to make a few distinctions about Mr. Carter in judging his "success."

First, there's nothing wrong with any President having a career after the White House, particularly one devoted to public service. And certainly Mr. Carter's pursuits, however misguided they might be, are preferable to Slick Willie's Global Party Tour.

However, it must be noted that Mr. Carter's efforts are nothing more than a continuing effort to rebuild a shattered image. By any standard, Carter was the worst President of the 20th Century. His programs crushed our economy and left our foreign policy in shambles. Since then, Carter has been willing to embrace any dictator and observe any election in an effort to rehabilitate his standing.

Consider his policy "triumphs." Anwar Sadat deserves most of the credit for the Camp David trimuphs. Until Sadat told Walter Cronkite he was willing to go to Tel Aviv and talk peace, there was no U.S. effort to broker a peace deal. In Haiti, it was the presence of Colin Powell, not Jimmy Carter that changed the mind of the dictator Raoul Cedras. When Powell told General Cedras that the 82nd Airborne was enroute and prepared to eliminate him by force, the Haitian dictator had a change of heart. But (again), the liberal media gave the lion's share of credit to Carter.

Ditto North Korea. Pyongyang may embrace Carter, but they fear U.S. military might. Just years after the Gulf War, North Korea--which has studied the U.S. military trimpuh extensively--was unprepared to risk war over the nuclear issue. Talking to Carter gave them a way to strike a deal (and a bad one at that), while maintainng some face.

Carter's two-decade rehabilitation tour is a farce, as is his Nobel Prize. What a shame that the President who did more for World Peace that any other--Ronald Reagan--will never get the recognition he deserves....

[jstone78]

I agree that there are many undeserving people who received the Nobel Prize in the past.

But my guess is that Jimmy Carter was more deserving of the Nobel Prize, than 80 percent of those who were given the award in the past.

[elbucko]

look at the organization that awards the Nobel Peace Prize...

The "Committee" is the Mad Hatters Tea Party!

[elbucko]

Any thoughts on these or...

"There you go again.."

[jstone78]

I was talking about ex-Presidents.

The criteria I was using was not what they did in office, but what they did AFTER living office!

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Worst president: Jimmy Carter.
Worst man to have become president: Bill Clinton.
President who did the most damage to his country: Lyndon Johnson.

[InvisibleChurch]

The Simpsons: Jimmy Carter? He's history's greatest monster!

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

I think it's a moot point. If you're President of the United States you have, for 4 or perhaps 8 years, a remarkable influence on history. What you do afterward will inevitably pale in comparison with your influence, for good and for ill, during prime time.

IOW there is no sense in comparing Ronald Reagan's post-retirement accomplishments unfavorably with Jimmy Carter's . . . even though that one letter of Reagan's has been influential in its own way . . .

It would be kind of a "Miss Congeniality Award" . . .