"Our Nation Turns Its Lonely Eyes to You"
A Tribute to Jimmy Carter (And to the End of an Era)
Where have you gone, Joe DiMaggio / Our nation turns its lonely eyes to you / … What’s that you say, Mrs. Robinson / Joltin’ Joe has left and gone away” - Simon & Garfunkel, “Mrs. Robinson”
Hearing the news yesterday, I could not help but recall these words.
Jimmy Carter. Dead. At 100. A man who truly deserved the honor of being a centenarian. He lived a life that provides a lesson to us all. In a time of cynicism and selfishness, President Carter taught us the meaning of empathy, compassion, and service.
One of Carter’s earliest allies, President Joe Biden, said it best: “I’ll always be proud to say that…I was the first national figure to endorse [Carter] in 1976 when he ran for president. And there was an overwhelming reason for it: his character.”
Yes, character. A quality we are sorely in need of as we head into 2025. Jimmy Carter was a consequential and unappreciated president. This was a president who took on politically dangerous challenges—like making a giant leap towards Middle East peace via the historic Camp David accords.
This was a president who was ahead of his time on climate change, whether by doubling the size of our national park system or by installing solar panels on the White House roof during his presidency. Insofar as later presidents like Reagan moved away from that bold vision, they did it to the American people’s loss and Communist China’s gain.
Though maybe I digress. This was a president who never lost a single soldier in combat (nota bene, Donald Trump). This was a president who envisioned a bold new American foreign policy where we consistently stood up for human rights and “dealt fairly and honorably” with our smaller neighbors and other smaller nations. Finally, this was a president who allowed his Federal Reserve chairman to give the American economy some needed “tough medicine,” even if that tough medicine imperiled his reelection campaign. Unfortunately, that really meant Carter’s successor (Reagan) would end up reaping the benefits from his fight against inflation. In short, Jimmy was a leader who always tried to make the right decision, even if it was the politically risky and thankless one.
Too often, we measure our presidents by how often they win elections. But Jimmy Carter was not in it to take the short-term sugar highs. He was in it to fight the fights that nobody else was willing to take on. For him, it was about changing the country for the better, not winning the next election (all while navigating circumstances largely beyond his control).
His post-presidency years, as fantastic and extraordinary as it was, was merely an extension of the extraordinary life he always lived.
If there were more presidents like Jimmy Carter, and less like Ronald Reagan and Donald Trump, we would not be in the mess we are in today.
Earlier in the afternoon, Thomas Friedman asked, “what if Reagan was more like Carter?” Well, let me put it this way: Jimmy Carter, as a president and as a man, stands tall against the backdrop of what followed him.
Look no further than the religious hypocrisy of the Reagan and Trump eras. The rise of the Prosperity Gospel alongside the wannabe Gordon Gekkos and the Elon Musks of the world. Or look no further than the Republican push to tighten abortion laws all while cutting the social safety net out from under the very same poor people often seeking out those abortions.
Save the life in the womb, only to risk condemning that same child to the cycle of poverty, gang violence, and more? That’s not what Jimmy Carter would do. And that’s certainly not something that Christ would do.
“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean” (Matthew 23:25-26; NIV). Words to the wise, from the man who made sure he did not fall into the trap of the modern-day hypocrites.
How far have we fallen, you ask? Consider this: Jimmy Carter was born near the end of one Gilded Age, only to die as we enter into another. Greed has truly poisoned America’s soul.
Then, consider this: Donald Trump has recently floated the idea of taking back the same Panama Canal that Carter rightfully gave back to Panama as a gesture of goodwill and of American honor.
Though what could “honor” possibly mean to a “thrice-married New York playboy” found liable for sexual abuse (i.e., rape, according to the common-sense understanding of the word)? A man otherwise known for stiffing his small business partners and independent contractors and for taking it upon himself to become the innocent Central Park Five’s wannabe executioner?
What could keeping America’s word mean to a man who provided aid and comfort to insurrectionists on January 6? Especially when that same man plans to pardon them once he returns to office again?
I repeat, character. We went from Jimmy Carter—a humble peanut farmer president and Sunday school teacher to Donald Trump—a fraudster who sells “God Bless the USA” Bibles made in China and who reportedly will be charging a $100,000 fee for people to pray with him at his inauguration. Character: a quality sorely missing in our soon-to-be leader of the free world.
Maybe there was a reason why Carter, an internationally-renowned advocate for free and fair elections, went out of his way to condemn the 2020 election lies that led to January 6th, 2021 (please read the full article, if you can; you can get around the paywall if you follow the link above).
We have got some difficult days ahead, to be sure. Who knows what direction time will take us. So what better time than now, on the eve of Donald’s Trump’s return, to take a quick glimpse of what we have lost over these past 50 years?
Rest in Peace and Power (RIPP), Mr. President. You were one of the last true Christians left on His earth.
Mr. Carter does not need our prayers. If anything, the country probably needs his. Don’t forget his example, and let us all hope the New Year will give us an opportunity to live our lives like his. And to defend our democracy and our American values whenever necessary. With all our hearts.
Happy New Year everyone!
P.S. Due to recent events, I am saving the rest of my “Why I Was Wrong And Where I Was Right” series for 2025. And no, it’s not entirely because I don’t like to admit when I am wrong :)