Tim Donner: Jimmy Carter - From Political Failure to Personal Triumph

A failed presidency did not prevent him from becoming a consequential former president.

In the fullness of time, our late 39th president, who died at 100 years old on Sunday, December 29, will never be mentioned among the giants of American history. In fact, the name of Jimmy Carter has, in the more than four decades since he departed the White House, been included in almost every conversation about the nation’s least effective chief executives.

Dave Patterson: Next, You’ll Tell Me You Gave Away the Panama Canal

Is the Panama Canal just the first of Trump’s geographic mergers and acquisitions?

Many believed that President Jimmy Carter’s relinquishing the Panama Canal was foolish. There is the old joke telling of Carter, unable to sleep, wandering through the White House gazing at the portraits of past US presidents when an apparition of Teddy Roosevelt appeared. “Why so glum?” Teddy asked. Carter then recounted all the mistakes he’d made, the failures in foreign policy, and the faux pas in decision-making during his administration. Teddy, attempting to console, tells Carter, “Not to worry. Being President of the US is a big job. You have to expect some setbacks. Whew! For a minute there, I thought you were going to tell me you gave away the Panama Canal.”

Point of Order: America - for an introvert

This week US President Joe Biden issued a video message to say he was joining former President Donald Trump in offering to renew his employment in 2024.

For different reasons, both men consider themselves eminently qualified. An important reason for both is that they are not the other.

Recent disclosures in the Fox News defamation case suggest that some who once had access to Trump are unenthusiastic about his candidacy.

Whereas the Democratic party apparatchiks who enjoy Biden’s hazy approach to policy and administration probably take an opposite view of their man.

So how about a wonk in the White House?