Was Jimmy Carter STUPID?

[Soggy in NOLA]

Naive? Yes, beyond compare.
Stupid? Hell no.

 

[Soggy in NOLA]

I do not think Carter was stupid, by all indications he is quite intelligent, but intelligence and wisdom are not the same thing, in particular political wisdom. Political wisdom requires almost an instinctual ability to understand human nature, and the changing influences culture will have on human nature, the deep, primal motivations of power. Carter never really understood America’s adversaries because he created an intellectual framework for interpreting the world that did not comport with human nature. Indeed he over thought things projecting his idealism on America’s enemies and convincing himself much of the conflict in the world was a misunderstanding.

Intellectuals often do this; I think President Obama suffers from this as well.

Statesmanship requires some intelligence, but it also requires a visceral understanding of human instinct, human lust for power.

It is much more of an art than a management process.

Nice lecture, no meat & potatoes, just BS. Carter has been on more peace missions than any other president, and negotiated more peace deals. That is a statesman, in case you misunderstood the term.

Carter has received honorary degrees from many American and foreign colleges and universities. They include:

LL.D. (honoris causa) Morehouse College, 1972; Morris Brown College, 1972; University of Notre Dame, 1977; Emory University, 1979; Kwansei Gakuin University, 1981; Georgia Southwestern College, 1981; New York Law School, 1985; Bates College, 1985; Centre College, 1987; Creighton University, 1987; University of Pennsylvania, 1998
D.E. (honoris causa) Georgia Institute of Technology, 1979
PhD (honoris causa) Weizmann Institute of Science, 1980; Tel Aviv University, 1983; University of Haifa, 1987
D.H.L. (honoris causa) Central Connecticut State University, 1985; Trinity College, 1998; Hoseo University, 1998
Doctor (honoris causa) G.O.C. University, 1995; University of Juba, 2002
Honorary Fellow of Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, 2007
Honorary Fellow of Mansfield College, Oxford, 2007
Among the honors Carter has received are the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1999 and the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002. Others include:

Freedom of the City of Newcastle upon Tyne, England, 1977
Silver Buffalo Award, Boy Scouts of America, 1978
Gold medal, International Institute for Human Rights, 1979
International Mediation medal, American Arbitration Association, 1979
Martin Luther King, Jr., Nonviolent Peace Prize, 1979
International Human Rights Award, Synagogue Council of America, 1979
Conservationist of the Year Award, 1979
Harry S. Truman Public Service Award, 1981
Ansel Adams Conservation Award, Wilderness Society, 1982
Human Rights Award, International League of Human Rights, 1983
World Methodist Peace Award, 1985
Albert Schweitzer Prize for Humanitarianism, 1987
Edwin C. Whitehead Award, National Center for Health Education, 1989
Jefferson Award, American Institute of Public Service, 1990
Liberty Medal, National Constitution Center, 1990
Spirit of America Award, National Council for the Social Studies, 1990
Physicians for Social Responsibility Award, 1991
Aristotle Prize, Alexander S. Onassis Foundation, 1991
W. Averell Harriman Democracy Award, National Democratic Institute for International Affairs, 1992
Spark M. Matsunaga Medal of Peace, US Institute of Peace, 1993
Humanitarian Award, CARE International, 1993
Conservationist of the Year Medal, National Wildlife Federation, 1993
Rotary Award for World Understanding, 1994
J. William Fulbright Prize for International Understanding, 1994
National Civil Rights Museum Freedom Award, 1994
UNESCO Félix Houphouët-Boigny Peace Prize, 1994
Great Cross of the Order of Vasco Nunéz de Balboa, Panama, 1995
Bishop John T. Walker Distinguished Humanitarian Award, Africare, 1996
Humanitarian of the Year, GQ Awards, 1996
Kiwanis International Humanitarian Award, 1996
Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament and Development, 1997
Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter Awards for Humanitarian Contributions to the Health of Humankind, National Foundation for Infectious Diseases, 1997
United Nations Human Rights Award, 1998
The Hoover Medal, 1998
The Delta Prize for Global Understanding, University of Georgia, 1999
International Child Survival Award, UNICEF Atlanta, 1999
William Penn Mott, Jr., Park Leadership Award, National Parks Conservation Association, 2000[127]
Zayed International Prize for the Environment, 2001
Jonathan M. Daniels Humanitarian Award, VMI, 2001
Herbert Hoover Humanitarian Award, Boys & Girls Clubs of America, 2001
Christopher Award, 2002
Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album, National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, 2007[128]
Berkeley Medal, University of California campus, May 2, 2007
International Award for Excellence and Creativity, Palestinian Authority, 2009[129]
Mahatma Gandhi Global Nonviolence Award, Mahatma Gandhi Center for Global Nonviolence, James Madison University (to be awarded September 21, 2009, in Harrisonburg, Virginia, and to be shared with his wife, Rosalynn Carter)
Recipient of 2009 American Peace Award along with Rosalynn Carter[130]
International Catalonia Award 2010

Honorary degrees? Really? About as meaningful and substantive as Obama's Nobel. That and a $......

 

[RadiomanATL]

Naive? Yes, beyond compare.
Stupid? Hell no.

Bingo. Extremely intelligent, but clueless about human nature. Typical Engineer.

 

[midcan5]

Carter is an example of many Democrats and more liberal thinkers, they never learned what good politicians know by instinct. "The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter." Winston Churchill was right. Carter actually thought talking seriously to the multitudes was a good idea. You only have to peruse the right wingnuts on USMB to know reason is a lost cause. Adlai Stephenson was another.

Reagan is pure myth and in terms of actual accomplishments for the nation, our worst president. We owe today to him. OpEdNews - Article: Ronald Reagan: Worst President Ever? "....there's a growing realization that the starting point for many of the catastrophes confronting the United States today can be traced to Reagan's presidency. There's also a grudging reassessment that the "failed"- presidents of the 1970s--Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter--may deserve more credit for trying to grapple with the problems that now beset the country."

But Carter spent too much on war, not enough on social needs, and reduced federal taxes on the wealthy, so he too fails. Maybe he realized that after he left and then got involved with habitat for humanity.


"If people want to reach a conclusion, they can usually find a way to do so. The Democrats have historically failed to grasp this rule, choosing uninspiring and aloof candidates who thought that policy arguments were forms of persuasion." Jonathan Haidt

 

[BlindBoo]

The only good thing that came out of that administration was legalizing homebrew, which I brew about 10 cases of pale ales and bocks every year. He was confused and naive the rest of his term.

Ohh, you didn't like the peanuts? Can you ship your brew to CA.?

And you raise a good question about citizen rights, the ability to make whatever is legal in America. A different thread and category, but interesting subject matter.

Actually, Carter did OK as a president, and I see nothing more than rightwing negative PR feeding here. The only thing he gets rapped for is the economy, and it was not a depression, so what is the big deal? He wasn't lying to the people about WMDs, or torturing human beings, flooding the gulf with oil, and being a drunken obnoxious asshole in public at the Olympics. What did he really do to deserve the scorn? NADA

First, he didn't let GWH Bush continue as the Head of the CIA. Then he cleaned out the Cowboy faction of the CIA still loyal to Bush. Then he reduced oil imports and told Americans to suck it up, conserve and look for alternative energy sources besides fossel fuels. Since then there has been a concerted effort to demonise the man, his Administration and everything he does.