Jimmy Carter, Common Man, World Citizen
Greg Ordy, February 2003
In the aftermath of the Watergate stench, Jimmy Carter's entrance to the presidency was a breath of fresh air. It seemed as if the imperial, aloof, and even criminal occupants of the White House were finally replaced with a common man, one of us.
Over time, we sadly learned how common this man was. Over his four years, we replaced conspiracy with incompetence.
As his term wore on, we were told that we could weather the energy crisis by resorting to warm sweaters. Inflation surged, and home mortgage interest rates hit 16 percent. Recompute your own monthly payments based upon that interest rate, and see if you could have made the payments.
In 1979, the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan, sensing the weakness in our government, and giving them license and freedom to act without consequence. That instability set off a chain of events that led to Afghanistan becoming a breeding ground for the terrorists that now delight in killing as many of us as they can.
Perhaps the greatest failure of that time was the Iranian hostage crisis. We were all held hostage as our citizens were imprisoned and brutalized on our sovereign embassy soil for over a year. When President Carter attempted a rescue operation, we were defeated by sand in the helicopter engines long before we got near our fellow citizens.
It is my opinion that this single incident, more than any other single incident, led the forming generation of terrorists to conclude that the Great Satan was impotent, as well as evil. An entire generation has grown up with the belief that we can be defeated with the tool of terrorism. The Terry Anderson's of Lebanon have grown into the Twin Towers of New York.
Jimmy Carter is indeed a man of peace, and a world citizen. But we (where I live) are citizens of the United States of America, and we are now confronted by a mature threat of terrorism which has brought destruction to our soil. Jimmy Carter again advises us. So long as we do the opposite of whatever he suggests, we will be getting good service from our former president.
Copyright (c) 2003, Greg Ordy
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Sunday, March 09, 2003 11:34 AM
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