Dan

Calabrese

Read Dan's bio and previous columns here

April 21, 2008

Hey Hamas! You Want Jimmy Carter? You’re Welcome To Him

Vladimir Lenin understood the value of what he called “useful idiots” – naïve westerners who bought in to Bolshevik propaganda and presumably created an air of legitimacy for what was, in fact, nothing more than a murderous ideology.

You already knew Jimmy Carter was an idiot. I bet you never thought he could be useful to anyone. The leaders of the terrorist group Hamas hope you’re wrong, and they’re using his recent series of meetings with them to argue for their legitimacy as a national liberation movement.

“It confirms the failure of the U.S. and European policies of ignoring Hamas,” said Hamas official Mushir Masri in a rant to supporters in Gaza on Friday. “It confirms that all the countries that assume Hamas is a terrorist group should reconsider.”

This is what the Israelis and the Bush Administration feared, which is why they warned Carter not to go on this trip. A former U.S. president meets with terrorists as if they are statesmen, and sure enough the terrorists claim this proves they are statesmen.

The Israelis, for their part, treated Carter like a pariah during his visit. Sort of like the way the voters treated him in 1980. President Shimon Peres met with him, but only for the purpose of dressing him down for being there in the first place. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert wanted nothing to do with him. Sort of like the voters . . .

For those worried, though, that Carter’s latest attempt to meddle in world affairs will embolden and legitimize our enemies, there is one fact that should make you breathe easy.

He is Jimmy Carter.

Now really, if you were trying to win respect, would you stand next to the worst president in American history and tell everyone that he takes you seriously?

And if you’re trying to convince people you’re not a terrorist, you might want to say something other than, “Look! Jimmy Carter is here with me! How could I be an America-hating terrorist?”

Jimmy Carter cozies up to every anti-American thug whose appointment calendar he can get on. Castro? Chavez? Kim Jong-Il? Too bad Yasser Arafat is dearly departed, because he and Jimmy could have caught up on old times. But Carter did lay a wreath at his tombstone – something President Bush refused to do when he had the chance because, oh, I don’t know, something to do with Arafat being a mass murderer?

If this were any other former president, there would be reason for concern about legitimizing terrorists, emboldening enemies and so forth. But Jimmy Carter is a complete and utter joke – Nobel Peace Prize notwithstanding. Even many members of his own Carter Center board had to distance themselves from him after he published the ridiculous book Peace Not Apartheid, which attempted to blame the Israelis for all the attacks that are leveled against them.

Jimmy Carter apparently thinks that he is a player on the world stage, and that it means something when someone has a meeting with him. He isn’t, and it doesn’t.

Exactly what purpose does Carter think he is going to achieve by meeting with these people? He talks about wanting to “broker” peace talks. Earth to Jimmy: You are no longer president, or anything else that matters. The voters unambiguously showed you the door 28 years ago. The Israelis want nothing to do with you because you are openly hostile toward them. (Gee, you don’t think they read your book, do you?)

During my days as a business owner, I can remember occasions when retired old geezers who were no longer active in the business world would ask if they could come in and see me. I didn’t mind, but for the most part these guys just seemed like they’d been looking for a reason to get out of the house. There was no real business to discuss, because they weren’t involved with any business. That is the likely nature of Jimmy’s meetings with his terrorist pals.

Jimmy Carter can’t broker any peace talks. He can’t “foster understanding.” He can’t accomplish anything positive. He is an irrelevant individual who was once a terrible president, and he can’t seem to stop cozying up to America’s enemies in an attempt to make himself appear important and give them legitimacy.

Fortunately, without any legitimacy of his own, he is not able to confer it on others, try as he might. His actions are pathetic and arguably treasonous, but if Americans are going to start betraying our country and trying to help the enemy, Jimmy Carter is the first guy I’d like to see turn coat.

Have fun with your new best friend, Hamas. We’ve been stuck with him long enough.

This is Column # DC168.  Request permission to publish here.