RIP Jimmy Carter

RIP Mr. President. Whatever your limitations you wore the title with dignity at a moment America really needed someone to do so. May your example inspire whoever comes in 2029.

 

His political career destroyed by a red wave propping up a septuagenarian right-wing celebrity. Gut-wrenching.

 

Was at his Inaguration parade in 1977 when he chose to get out of the limo and walk some of the route. A freezing 17 year old me knew he could be someone special, though his 4 years in the White House may not have displayed that often enough.

 

Now reunited for eternity. Thank you, Mr. President.

 

Election Day in Jamaica, 12/18/97, Jimmy came to the island with Evander and the other guy and other canvassers.

We met at 6 in the morning.

 

Met a guy who worked with "Carter" as those close to him called him I guess, at the Carter Center. He talked about this filtered straw the foundation distributed to people in Africa struggling with unclean water that led to bad health outcomes. So throw in "only the second human disease eradicated" to his long list of credits.
Wiping Out Guinea Worm Disease

He caught some flack for the 1980 Olympic boycott, and obviously some Olympians missed out on some medals, and I always felt bad for Dick Enberg since that was going to be "his" Olympics for NBC, but how many US athletes owe their careers long past the Olympics due to the ensuing 1984 Eastern Europe boycott that led to total US domination. Retton? (She probably wouldn't have made the podium), Bart Connor? Mitch Gaylord? I'm sure there are others who only won due to the boycott.

 

The hostage crisis and Olympic boycott are the obvious lowlights, but even with the Camp David accords, I maintain he did more good after leaving the White House through his foundation, Habitat for Humanity, etc. A definite breath of fresh air after Watergate.

 

Edward Walsh, who died in 2014, wrote the Washington Post obit.

 

His presidency is underrated. Was way ahead of the curve on green energy (and spearheaded the Dept. of Energy). No one else would have devoted so much time to a single peace initiative. Never lied to the American public. His so-called "malaise" speech of July 1979 contains many hard truths.

"In a nation that was proud of hard work, strong families, close-knit communities, and our faith in God, too many of us now tend to worship self-indulgence and consumption. Human identity is no longer defined by what one does, but by what one owns. But we’ve discovered that owning things and consuming things does not satisfy our longing for meaning. We’ve learned that piling up material goods cannot fill the emptiness of lives which have no confidence or purpose."

 

I couldn’t believe how long he was in hospice. My dad died a few days before we were supposed to have a family meeting about putting him in hospice. My mom was in hospice a little less than a month before she was gone.

He hung in there like a champ.

He was as genuine a person to hold that office as there has been in my lifetime.

RIP Mr. President.

 

I know people are planning protests and such to "honor" Trump's inauguration. A better way to go is to flood DC for Carter's funeral, and then see if Trump can come close to it on the 20th.