EDITORIAL: Too good to be president

Jimmy Carter’s century of living is an open book, as would be expected of a life committed to honesty, truth and integrity. And yet a question lingers over it: How in the world did this man get to be president of the United States?

He was not presidential timber, not by American standards at least. Being humble and promising to never lie are not considered presidential qualifications.

America exists because its founders didn’t want to be ruled by a king, yet a touch of royalty is expected in its supreme leader. Presidents are meant to exude power and command regal treatment, the likes of lavish White House parties and stirring performances by the Marine Band of “Hail to the Chief,” the personal anthem of presidents.

Carter appeared on television in the Oval Office in a cardigan sweater instead of a suit and sometimes wore blue jeans in the White House. When he traveled on official business, he carried his own suitcase. When visiting leaders were in the capital, White House receptions were modest affairs. Some did not include enough alcohol for a proper champagne toast.

As president, he pledged to “never knowingly lie,” but voters weren’t impressed. He gave a prime-time TV speech empathizing with viewers over the country’s sour mood at a time of high unemployment and inflation powered by out-of-control oil prices. The speech, honest to a fault, was tagged by critics as “the malaise speech” and contributed to a perception of Carter as a sanctimonious pessimist who was a weak leader.

Carter lost the presidency in a landslide defeat by Ronald Reagan, who told voters, “I find no national malaise.” Reagan’s optimistic campaign promise was to “make America great again,” a slogan to be copied 35 years later by the current president-elect.

Carter was merely out of step with Reagan, but compared to what is now the presidential norm, he was marching in a different world altogether. Deceit, rather than honesty, is the common denominator in these presidential times.

President Joe Biden’s handlers and protectors in the White House orchestrated a campaign to hide the truth that the president’s mental and physical health had declined to the point where he was not fit to serve another term.

Biden took office saying his four-year term would be a transition to new leadership. Then he reneged and anointed himself as the Democratic candidate in 2024. That deceit was followed by another. He repeatedly vowed he would not pardon his son, who was facing prosecution for federal crimes, and then he granted Hunter Biden a presidential pardon.

Meanwhile, President-elect Donald Trump just keeps lying. Name a subject, and it is almost certain he’s told a lie about it. Everyone

knows this, even his most devoted followers. It’s seems to be viewed as a congenital quirk, an annoying tic to be put up with as he makes America great again.

Besides impeccable integrity, Carter’s presidency was known for having the second lowest public approval rating of post-World War II administrations (four percentage points ahead of the rating for the least popular president, Donald Trump in his first term). But there were also significant accomplishments, with such standouts as a history-making Middle East peace agreement that led to a Nobel Peace Prize for Carter and the protection of 103 million acres of environmentally precious land in Alaska that inspired comparisons of Carter with Teddy Roosevelt.

Regardless of how Carter’s presidency is viewed, it is just a blip on the radar screen of a life of public service that started with duty as a U.S. Navy officer on nuclear submarines (according to the Naval History and Heritage Command, Carter was “instrumental in the design and development of nuclear-propulsion plants for naval vessels”) and progressed through decades of good works for the world.

After leaving Washington, Carter, often with his wife Rosalynn at his side, advocated as an unofficial ambassador of the world’s greatest democracy for human rights in countries where they were endangered. At home in Georgia, where he taught Sunday school classes well into his 10th decade, he founded The Carter Center, a foundation that oversees fair elections in struggling democracies and has organized public health programs credited with eradicating diseases in Third World countries.

The image that is perhaps most emblematic of his service to humanity is of Jimmy Carter, former president of the U.S., wearing a hard hat and pounding nails as a Habitat for Humanity volunteer building houses for low-income families.

It is an understatement to say that Carter’s tenure on Earth was a life well led.

He was probably too good a person to be president.