Conservatives and Kooks Cheer
as Obama Ditches Jimmy Carter
By: B. Canseco
By: B. Canseco
Jimmy Carter didn't deserve Obama repudiating him last week. Jimmy Carter didn't deserve the legions of GOPers and Conservatives giving Obama the condescending-whiteboy-attaboy for downplaying the factor of race in the motivation of many of Obama's critics. Jimmy Carter didn't deserve having legions of (mostly white) liberals remaining silent as he got picked on once again. Jimmy Carter just didn't deserve any of it.
Carter didn't deserve it because Jimmy Carter was right. And deep down, we all know he was right. But this wasn't the first time Carter's been right.
Carter didn't deserve it because Jimmy Carter was right. And deep down, we all know he was right. But this wasn't the first time Carter's been right.
Growing up, my mom and my dad always liked Jimmy Carter. They smiled whenever they saw him on TV. I asked them why and they’d tell me, “when a southern white man who owns a plantation can talk about injustice, you can trust him.”
But that’s Jimmy Carter—the dumbass, bible-thumpin' peanut farmer from Georgia. At least, that’s how he’s remembered (and still known) in most circles.
Liberals largely hated Carter because he wasn't cool; not hip enough; Carter has never been one for spitting out wild-ass smart-aleck attacks against the obvious right -wing targets just to get attention. Plus he was southern farmer who owned a plantation—and that just reminded the Dems too much of their LBJ roots. Also Carter didn't play the "southern strategy" that so many white dems (and RNCers) played to win.
But I also think Liberals hate on Jimmy Carter to this day, largely because he’s a devout Christian. If there’s one thing liberals hate more than conservatives, it’s Christians. At some point liberals in America convinced themselves that faith in anything beyond science and logic is the sole domain of mouth-breathing, knuckle-dragging hate-mongering fools. (You could be the smartest guy in the room, the most caring woman in town, but you tell a liberal that you’re a born-again Christian and out come the backhanded compliments and verbal slams to your face and behind your back.)
It didn't help that Jimmy Carter came out and endorsed Obama's run in 2008; while most thought he'd side with fellow southerner Bill Clinton's wife, he knocked the long-rumored idea of a Barack Obama-Hilary Clinton ticket by saying, "If you take that 50 percent who just don't want to vote for Clinton and add it to whatever element there might be who don't think Obama is white enough or old enough or experienced enough or because he's got a middle name that sounds Arab, you could have the worst of both worlds". It was typical Carter—blunt, plain, and deep down inside, true. Needless to say, the Clintons still hate Jimmy Carter.
Besides his being a democrat, Conservatives hate Carter not because he's a Christian—but because he's not their kind of Christian. For Jimmy Carter Christianity meant following Christ not the GOP. Christianity also meant speaking out against injustice, serving the poor, building up and not bullying, and challenging folks to do good and not just talking about how good you think you are. The GOP hated that. Still does.
Fact is, Jimmy Carter is the only Christian politician that acts more like a Christian than a politician. I’ll go a step further and add that despite being a democrat, Carter’s more Christian than 99% of the GOP and damn near all so-called conservatives. And what’s worse is deep down inside, they all know it.
And if that ain’t enough, they also hated Carter for his politics, which were greatly tied to his faith. Carter didn’t believe capitalism was the savior of the world and favored regulating the increasingly greedy knuckleheads on Wall St. He got slammed for that. He got blamed for the oil shortage of 1979, too. Even though he really had little to do with it.
Carter also chose to talk enemies as well as allies; and to and when possible negotiate with Middle Eastern countries and the then-USSR, a no-no for neo-cons who thought it made America soft. Carter just thought it was the humane and intelligent thing to do.
As a result everybody gave Jimmy Carter 4 years of aggravation, indifference and blame for everything that didn’t get done in his administration.
Since leaving politics, Jimmy Carter has done more for the poor, homeless and disenfranchised than all his critics combined. He didn't start habitat For humanity, but he made it into the organization it is today. In fact, thanks to his work with habitat, Jimmy Carter's built more homes in the post-Katrina gulf than the Obama, Clinton, Bush administrations (and even Brad Pitt combined). Not that anyone cares what Jimmy Carter does these days.
So when Jimmy Carter said Barack Obama was being criticized because lots of people don’t believe in and still wont accept a black person as President, he knows what he’s talking about. Carter's been criticized by everyone for everything and nothing. He knows the difference between personal attacks and political posturing. He knows the difference between doubt and dissent. And as my momma said, a south white plantation owner probably racism knows racism when he sees it.
But when the Obama Admin responded to questions about Carter’s observation by saying Jimmy Carter was wrong and distancing themselves from him, once again Barrack Obama proved two things: (1) People still don’t respect Jimmy Carter. And (2): Barrack Obama would rather stand up to his friends than stand up to his enemies.
Forget what you heard: Jimmy Carter is a G. I’m talking posturepedic slept-on. He’ll be fine. He’ll keep building more homes and helping more poor people and doing more good around the world than all his critics combined.
But Obama’s another story. If this keeps up, at some point within the next 3 years Obama’s gonna run out of people to distance himself from/repudiate in the name of appeasement; and all he’ll be left is those who never have and never will respect him or his agenda.
When that day comes, hopefully Obama will be smart enough to call up the peanut farmer guy—he’ll show ‘em how to move when everybody’s against you.
