Carter: Wise Statesman Or Senile Mr. Peanut?

In unprecedented comments, former President Carter says the current Bush administration is "the worst in history" in international relations, taking aim at the White House's policy of pre-emptive war and its Middle East diplomacy. He also took aim at Bush's environmental policies and the administration's "quite disturbing" faith-based initiative funding.

In classic Republican attack-the-messenger style, RNC spokeswoman Amber Wilkerson said, "Apparently, Sunday mornings in Plains for former President Carter includes hurling reckless accusations at your fellow man." She said it was hard to take Carter seriously because he also "challenged Ronald Reagan's strategy for the Cold War."

Carter came down hard on the Iraq war. "We now have endorsed the concept of pre-emptive war where we go to war with another nation militarily, even though our own security is not directly threatened, if we want to change the regime there or if we fear that some time in the future our security might be endangered," he said. "But that's been a radical departure from all previous administration policies."

Carter, who won a Nobel Peace Prize in 2002, criticized Bush for having "zero peace talks" in Israel and abandoning or directly refuting every negotiated nuclear arms agreement as well as environmental efforts by other presidents.

Carter also offered a harsh assessment for the White House's Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, which helped religious charities receive $2.15 billion in federal grants in fiscal year 2005 alone. "As a traditional Baptist, I've always believed in separation of church and state and honored that premise when I was president, and so have all other presidents, I might say, except this one."

The Ford/Carter presidential election in 1976 is the first that I really felt as though I had a dog in the hunt and that was Carter. In hindsight, I think he was a so-so president. He was good on Israel-Egypt-Palestine peace, poor on the economy — anybody else remember 18% interest rates? And you think 7% for a home loan is steep... I also would say he handled the Iranian hostage crisis poorly. If it had been handled differently, would they be so emboldened now? Was that the start of the world's view that the U.S. is weak? Of course, we'll never know.

I do respect his presidential after life, returning to Georgia and working to raise up the lives of the poor through Habitat for Humanity.
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