WTH: Jimmy Carter Was Our Worst Modern Ex-President. Steven Hayward Explains

While many understand the failures of the late Jimmy Carter’s
presidency, he is often referred to as our “best ex-president”
because of his humanitarian and diplomatic efforts following his
loss to President Reagan. However, the rose-colored glasses
through which many Americans view his post-presidency ignore his
disastrous meddling in foreign affairs and blatant antisemitism
since leaving office. Despite his humanitarian efforts, Jimmy
Carter was not the elder statesman his allies alleged him to be.
Rather, Carter’s true legacy is that of someone who wished to
remain president without the constitutional fetters of the
office, undermining his successors of both parties.


Steven Hayward is the Edward L. Gaylord Visiting Professor of
Public Policy at Pepperdine University and a senior fellow at the
Pacific Research Institute. He was previously a resident scholar
at UC Berkeley’s Institute of Governmental Studies and the F.K.
Weyerhaeuser Fellow in Law and Economics at the American
Enterprise Institute. Dr. Hayward is the author of The Real Jimmy
Carter: How Our Worst Ex-President Undermines American Foreign
Policy, Coddles Dictators and Created the Party of Clinton and
Kerry (Regnery 2004).


Read the transcript here.