Carter's Speech

I like Jimmy Carter as a person, always have. As a leader and an analyist of foreign policy I have my doubts about his competance and wisdom. His speech tonight (transcript here) reminded me why. There were several things I disagreed with. Here are a couple.

Today, our dominant international challenge is to restore the greatness of America based on telling the truth, a commitment to peace, and respect for civil liberties at home and basic human rights around the world.

These are all good things, but our dominant challenge? More important than defeating Al Qaeda? More important than disarming North Korea? This is exactly the sort of thinking that I dislike Jimmy Carter for, and fear in John Kerry.

In the meantime, the Middle East peace process has come to a screeching halt for the first time since Israel became a nation. All former presidents, Democratic and Republican, have attempted to secure a comprehensive peace for Israel with hope and justice for the Palestinians. The achievements of Camp David a quarter century ago and the more recent progress made by President Bill Clinton are now in peril.

Apparently, this is all Bush’s fault. Somehow I was under the impression that Yasser Arafat walked away from the Clinton peace plan in 2000 and, emboldened by Western appeasement, decided to restart the intifada. I guess if we had just given him more, as Carter would have, there would be peace in the Middle East now. Of course there wouldn’t be peace in Israel because Arafat won’t be happy until Israel is destroyed. The rest of the speech had similar ideas, several cheap shots, and some distortion, but read it and decide for yourself what you think.