Jimmy Carter was a unicorn in American politics. The only Democrat elected President in the years between Lyndon Johnson and Bill Clinton (1968-1992). A peanut farmer with no family wealth. A rural Southerner, Navy veteran and evangelical Christian who ran and governed as a moderate, if not liberal.
You don’t find people like that anymore.
Carter was the ultimate non-politician. His one-term Presidency was derailed by a perception that America had become weak. He never really pushed back against that, even as he confronted Soviet expansionism. He never got credit for historic feats, like the Camp David Accords which ended years of war between Israel and Egypt. He was a humble man, which worked as a candidate — but not so much as a Commander in Chief running for re-election.
He found his groove after his Presidency, promoting causes like Habitat for Humanity and Third World disease prevention. (His role in ending the Guinea worm disease may be his most significant achievement). He never ran for office again, nor did he push his wife to do so. In that way, he and Rosalyn stayed above the fray, which gave gravity to their work.
Carter’s post-Presidential work was not perfect. As a mediator with the Carter Center, he gave too much love to socialist dictators (Hugo Chavez, Kim Jong Un) who didn’t deserve it. But he got one thing very right, both as President and as a former President: he refocused U.S. foreign policy on democracy and human rights and, yes, that had a role in winning the Cold War.
Jimmy Carter would never be nominated, much less elected, today. But that’s OK. He did a lot to make the world a better place. And he lived the values that he learned in church, whether it helped him politically or not.
“Well done, good and faithful servant.” Matthew 25:21
