Copeland's Corner: February 23, 2023
Jimmy Carter is a shining example of what we should all aspire to.
I was saddened to hear that former President Jimmy Carter is in his final days. He has suffered a litany of health problems in recent years ranging from a hip replacement to liver surgery to a diagnosis of brain cancer a few years back. Despite all of that, like the Energizer Bunny, he just kept going. At the age of 98, he is America’s longest living President. I think that if anyone deserves that distinction, it’s him.
There are people who think that he was ineffective during his one term in the Oval Office from 1977 to 1981. There are things that are beyond the control of the head of the Executive Branch but, on your watch, you get the credit or the blame. The Carter presidency was hobbled by astronomical (by 1970s standards) gas prices and shortages, record inflation (that had begun during the Ford Administration) and a hostage crisis where a group of Iranian students stormed the U.S. Embassy in Tehran taking over 60 Americans prisoner and holding them for 444 days. Add to that a botched air rescue attempt orchestrated by the White House that ended with eight American servicemen killed and you have a Presidency that, at the very least optically, is ineffective and ripe for criticism.
While you can criticize the Carter Presidency, what you can’t criticize are the things he’s done in its aftermath. He’s been called our “Greatest Ex-President” and while that sound tongue in cheek, it’s true. When Ronald Reagan, the man who denied Carter a second term, left office, the first thing he did was deliver a speech in Japan for which he was paid two million dollars. The Clintons have cashed in with seven figure book deals and six figure speaking engagements. Trump has spent his post presidency playing golf and continuing to work to subvert American democracy. The Obamas are getting their share of book deals, lucrative speeches and deals to produce content for streaming services. While that content is all positive, uplifting and life affirming, it’s still remunerative.
Jimmy Carter, on the other hand, has spent his post presidency hammering nails and building houses for the poor with Habitat for Humanity. He’s gone around the world and helped monitor elections in places where the democratic process may not be on the up and up, such as Haiti. He’s even been teaching Sunday School to children every week. Can you imagine having an ex-U.S. President as your Sunday School teacher? He’s used the cachet that comes from the position he once held in the service of others and for the good of humanity. He is a deeply religious man and a very humble one.
I had the good fortune of meeting him once several years ago. I used to do commentary on a local Bay Area television station. The pieces were funny, two to three minute bits on current events delivered on live TV. On the morning of my very first one, I had the jitters like you wouldn’t believe. What if my timing was off? What if the powers that be didn’t like me? What if I couldn’t read the damned TelePrompter right?
One of the producers took me to the green room to cool my heels until my segment, and there were two Secret Service agents standing in the doorway. After being assured that, despite appearances to the contrary, I wasn’t a nefarious character, they let me in. When I walked in the door, President Carter was sitting on a couch at the far end of the room. I had no idea that he was going to be a guest that morning. Before I could say a word, he got up, walked over to me, and extended his hand.
“I’m Jimmy Carter,” he said, making no presumptions that I already knew who he was.
All I could think to reply with was, “It’s nice to meet you, Mr. President.”
There’s something lofty about saying, “Mr. President” to an actual president.
He had me sit down on the couch beside him and talked to me like we were old friends. He explained that he was there to talk about his work with Habitat for Humanity. He asked about me and what I was doing. I explained about my commentary and that I was scared to death. He had me read it to him. He laughed in all the right places and told me I was going to be just fine. Soon, the producer came back to take him to the set. He shook my hand again, told me what a pleasure he’d had talking to me, and then left the green room. I spent the next few minutes thinking, “Did that just happen??” He was a kind and lovely man.
President Carter and his family have made the decision to put him in hospice care. That means that there’s nothing more that doctors can do for him but make him comfortable until the inevitable happens. He’s decided that he wants to end his days surrounded by his family in his own home and on his own terms. If anybody deserves to transition like that, it’s him. In my humble opinion, Jimmy Carter is a shining example, not only of what a former president should be, but what we should all aspire to. Leaving this world a little better than we found it.