Mr. Carter Goes to North Korea

I'm near a boiling point this morning over this AP story concerning President Carter's trip to North Korea this week. From the AP story:

"BEIJING (AP) - Former President Jimmy Carter said Monday that he hoped to meet with North Korea's reclusive leaderduring a visit to the country this week aimed at assessing severe food shortages and discussing the possible revival of nuclear disarmament talks."

First of all, shame on AP for including such a mind-numbingly stupid phrase as "reclusive leader" with regards to Kim Jong Il. Reclusive? With he and Papa Kim's likenesses plastered all over the nation in the form of statues, murals and mandatory portraits in every hovel? Reclusive? As in attempting to develop and export nuclear weapons to every rogue regime around the world? Yep, very reclusive...like Hobbits. Nuclear-armed Hobbits.

"Carter is making the three-day visit accompanied by former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari, former Norwegian Prime Minister Gro Brundtland and former Irish President Mary Robinson. The four are members of a group of retired world leaders called the Elders founded by former South African President Nelson Mandela."

"Carter said the group "would like very much" to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, as well as his son and heir-apparent Kim Jong Un, but was unsure whether that would happen. "We have no indication that we will do so, but it would be a pleasure if we could do so," he said at a news conference in Beijing prior to his departure for Pyongyang on Tuesday."

But we're just getting warmed up here...

"In almost any case when there are sanctions against an entire people, the people suffer the most and the leaders suffer least," he said. "And we believe that the last 50 years of deprivation of the North Korean people to adequate access to trade and commerce has been very damaging to their economy, as well as some problems they may have brought on by themselves."

Gotta' love that last sentence: “…as well as some problems they may have brought on by themselves." Well, isn’t that a nice concession.

The problem with the way we've always dealt with Carter is that we treat him like some well-meaning but doddering and naive fool. Crazy ex-prez in the attic and so forth. Builds nice homes with Habitat for Humanity. Had an amusing brother. Bravely fought off an amphibious rabbit assault. Had lust in his heart, which he kept hidden beneath the cardigan sweaters.

I've come to a different conclusion over time, which is that he knows exactly what he's doing and is in fact a malevolent force in this world. On every single issue where America finds itself at odds with dictators and authoritarian regimes, you'll find Carter there, standing in support of them. Wherever political corruption and abuse of power exists, there is Carter. Wherever unelected, belligerent despots who starve their own people and deny them the most basic of human rights can be found…there is Carter.

The common denominator and prime qualifying factor for him it seems when choosing his allies: “Must hate America.” No others need apply.

Just because he's old doesn't mean he's senile, and he's not a dumb man. You don't become a nuclear engineer, governor of Georgia and eventually the President without having a fairly formidable collection of brain cells. How you use, or misuse, those gifts is another matter entirely.

I'm not a psychologist, nor do I play one on the HQ, but I think the root of his problem lies in how he was so utterly rejected after one term in office and how so many citizens did and still do view his term as such an utter failure. Every administration inherits problems from the previous one and his was no different. Every administration also has new ones pop up while in office. It's upon how each president responds to these issues that they're ultimately judged. Carter was ineffectual because in the face of great challenges to the nation he chose to do...nothing.

But now he's going to do large things. He'll show us for rejecting his wise and benevolent rule. Why, if we'd just re-elected him we would've eventually seen the greatness in this man. But we didn't, and now it's payback time. Except that he really can’t exact too much revenge against us, at least directly. However, this bitter, broken shell of a former human being can try and do so by proxy. To seek audience with and stand in solidarity with the likes of Kim Jong Il and dare to point the finger at us for the suffering of the North Korean people, I have only one response:

Mr. Carter, you disgust me.

posted by Genghis at 11:56 AM

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