A Note from Doug Draper, Niagara At Large
He’s America’s Joe Clark.
And like Joe Clark, who served as leader of Canada’s Conservative Party and as the country’s prime minister for a brief time during the mid- to late 1970s, Jimmy Carter, who served one term as America’s president during the same period, has never really gotten the respect he deserves from his nation’s citizenry.
Both men brought to high office an honest and decency and intelligence we too rarely see in our politicians. Yet neither were granted the time and support they needed to fulfill agendas they may very well contributed to a better world for all of us today.
With that in mind, it was said to learn from a statement Jimmy Carter released himself this past August12th that he is now battling cancer.
“Recent liver surgery revealed that I have cancer that now is in other parts of my body,” the 90-year-old Carter stated from his home in Atlanta, Georgia. “I will be rearranging my schedule as necessary so I can undergo treatment.”
Since leaving the U.S. presidency in 1980 after serving only one term, Jimmy Carter, through his Carter Centre, has remained a passionate voice for democracy, peace and human rights around the world. He has also played a lead role in building Habitat for Humanity, which builds homes for families who could never otherwise afford one and which now has chapters across North America, including Niagara.
While he was president, he introduced a national energy policy during a global slump in oil production that combined strategies aimed at energy conservation with a shift to greener sources of energy, including solar and wind. As a symbolic start, he had solar panels installed on the roof of the White House – panels that were later removed when Ronald Reagan was swept into the presidency by a citizenry that clearly wasn’t ready to give up its oil addiction.
One can only imagine how much better off we would be today – how much further ahead we would be in reducing the possibility of a potentially catastrophic climate breakdown – if Carter’s push for conservation and renewable energy was given a real chance.
After Jimmy Carter revealed his cancer diagnosis, longtime Georgia Congressman and civil rights icon John Lewis had this to say; “We need his wisdom, his words,and his leadership now more than ever before. We need him to continue to speak out on the great issues of our time. … I will keep him, his wife and his family in my prayers.”
We should all join in those prayers for this great humanitarian.
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He was and is one of the finest presidents/gentleman the U.S. has ever had. Seeing a clip from a conference with him today, where he speaks at being “at ease” with whatever happens, was most refreshing, given the authoritarian, corrupt regime we Canadians now live with…..
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Here is the link to the clip that Gail is referring to:
Grace.
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“Jimmy Carter has never really gotten the respect he deserves.”
YA THINK!!!!!!
This man has done more than every other president alive or dead in the second half of the 20th century. I cannot comprehend the lack of respect and disdain he receives. While in office he reached a compromise between Sadat and Begin that has lasted to this day. Since then he has travelled worldwide with Habitat for Humanity, including in our own area, and with the Carter Foundation dedicated to curing disease, with great success I might add, and monitoring elections in foreign lands.
He has also done low key diplomatic missions with great results. He is not afraid to tell the truth no matter how unpopular and has had absolutely logical and workable opinions about many areas of conflict like the Middle East only to be poo pooed by the hawks and lobbyists. He also made it very clear that the movie “Argo” was a gross misrepresentation of the Iran hostage crisis and emphasized that Canada (and Clark) saved those people! (What a coincidence that the hostages were released the day his Presidency ended.) No back room dealing there (Iran contra).
He is a good, humble and ethical man, traits that are admirable indeed but mocked by the high and mighty as weaknesses. We should all be so weak! As you said Doug, he was also ahead of the curve regarding climate change. As with Democratic Presidents since, even their obviously good intentions have been scuttled in the name of partisan politics and corporate greed…a sin!
I found it very characteristic of him that he took his illness with good humour and decided to “rearrange” his schedule but not stop working for his worthy causes.
What have other ex Presidents done lately? Dubya paints kitties….and badly so. Others make millions giving speeches.
I met him, Roslyn and Jeff in Nepal in 2008 and, then in his 80’s, he was in jeans bouncing all over rocky Himalayan roads in a Jeep to monitor the election. He was most gracious when we met and laughed aloud as I went into my purse to get out my camera after asking if I could take his photo and was surrounded by men (not my usual circumstance!). As everything was closed due to the election except the hotel restaurant when I said we were on our way for supper he said “Well, let’s go then”. We needed a plastic surgeon to get the smile off our faces we were so thrilled. He was absolutely polite, gracious, down to earth and friendly without artifice. He will be a great loss.
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In many countries throughout the world he monitored elections and gave honest reporting regardless of what the CIA wished for or wanted. He attended the Funeral of Pierre Elliot Trudeau and shook the Hand of Fidel Castro which led to his invitation to visit Cuba. He oversaw and monitored the elections in Venezuela and stated they were the most honest election he had ever witness…This “GENTLEMAN” was integrity amplified and the respect he has earned by the sane peoples of the world is indicative of truth that was his mission…God Bless you Jimmy Carter..God Bless You
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What a remarkable man… Imagine what the world would be like if there were more like him in politics.
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He was a man ahead of his times….a great man, and all Americans should be proud that he was their president. I know I am. God bless Jimmy Carter and his wife Rosalyn, who will miss him so.
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