I happen to believe Jimmy Carter was one of your best Presidents in the 20th century. He is a warmhearted, intelligent and perspicacious man. It is a tragedy, that he wasn’t allowed a second term. The world would be a better place if politicians like Carter ruled it. The documentary above is tracing the destiny of the solar panels Jimmy Carter had installed at the White House in 1979. Reagan dismantled them as soon as he became President. If you have a chance to watch the doc, please do.
14 Comments
July 15, 2010 at 1:42 pm
Great piece, EV. I agree, Jimmy is probably the best President the US has ever had. If we had only listened more closely.
July 15, 2010 at 1:45 pm
hooda, try and get the doc if you can. It is sad, however. So many missed opportunities.
July 15, 2010 at 2:04 pm
Oh I do this all the time, but I don’t sing. I holler..
July 15, 2010 at 2:09 pm
missing girl found
July 15, 2010 at 2:55 pm
I, too, have always thought Jimmy Carter stood tall. Compared to what preceded and f0llowed his four years, he seems, in retroview, almost godlike!
He lost to Reagan in 1980, apparently amidst (Iran hostage) chicanery that makes GW Bush’s ascendancy look almost benign in comparison. But that’s no surprise; Reagan was a Republican, after all, and in the chicanery realm I suspect we ain’t seen nothin’ yet.
Meanwhile, Carter continues to contribute in whichever way(s) he can, always in the hope of making a better world. In that sense, he remains the total and complete opposite to his opposition.
July 15, 2010 at 3:05 pm
frugal, I have said this here before. A friend of mine was on a plane to the US and Carter was on it, too. The President came to everyone on board greeted him or her and took the time chat with and to listen to everybody. He was very gracious and my friend was deeply impressed and moved.
July 15, 2010 at 3:12 pm
EV, I would love to come help you organize your files. Be warned — I am ruthless.
One more box and I’m done with these files. 12 banker boxes of old files off to storage — since it hadn’t been done since I left in 2006. *sigh*
July 15, 2010 at 3:14 pm
Ditto on the frugal and hooda Carter comments.
Thirty years later and we are still ‘discussing’ alternative energy.
By now we should be fully ensconced in solar, wind and any other alternative energy and much less reliant on fossil fuel.
[Reagan was an idiot - pure and simple. It wasn't enough that he ruined CA - he had to stick it to the whole damn Nation].
Many Americans don’t know how to vote – never really looking, in depth, at issues – just pull the lever for ‘no’ and go…
Jimmy C. is the epitome of the global citizen: truly caring, nurturing and striving for that better world.
July 15, 2010 at 3:28 pm
“missing girl found”
A majority of abductions are by family/non-custodial parents.
I await, with great interest, why/how the child ended up with non-family members when it was family (Aunts) who abducted.
(I use to work for a non-profit that dealt with prevention and recovery of missing and abducted children. One always holds out for the safe return…
The anguish families go through is heart-wrenching.)
July 15, 2010 at 4:41 pm
Jimmy was the first and worst victim of Republican chicanery. He espoused real American values, had solid plans for building our future and therefore had to be shot down. The world is lucky the machine had moved beyond the 60′s so that the shooting was only figurative.
Sadly, the effects were the same. And for 30 years the bastards have been denigrating all the good he did and wanted to do and sold us a bunch of cheap schlock.
July 15, 2010 at 5:59 pm
Hooda, the same thing continues to this day. I frequently not the subtleties of nematode comments, including the relatively steady attempt to ‘compare’ Obama to Carter and to suggest in the process a similar one term fate. It’s the machine, always hard at work, trying to tweak attitudes even if only subtly.
America ascended to the level of politically corrupt with the machine’s murder of JFK in 1963 and cemented itself in place with the murder of RFK (likely the only Dem who could have defeated Nixon in 68) moments after he had won, hands down, the California primary. It’s been downhill for us as a nation ever since. The intensity of desire for Fascism has become almost mystical, may well have reached, possibly surpassed, the point of no return.
I’m glad I’m an old fart. I’d sure hate to be looking forward at another fifty years of what’s become business as usual. I don’t like brownshirts all that well, esp. bible-thumping brownshirts.
July 15, 2010 at 6:00 pm
*frequently not* = frequently note. Good grief.
July 15, 2010 at 8:10 pm
Thanks EV, it’s interesting to hear how someone in another country views Mr. Carter. He is an honest and decent man who had no desire to play DC games. No matter how one viewed his presidency, it would be impossible to deny that he has been our finest former president ever.
July 15, 2010 at 9:05 pm
Thanks for the vid, EV. I always thought Carter got such a bum rap. I still think of him as one of our better presidents, even though it was an uphill battle and he was ambushed at every turn (especially by Reagan on the hostage thing–gah!). One can only imagine where we’d be today if his ideas had taken hold. Sad.
Carter has been the best elder statesman Prez ever. I think he’s had a much greater impact since he’s left office. Sure can’t say that about the Shrub. For which I should suppose we should all be grateful.