I want to check a current photo of Tim Rutten this afternoon to see if the Los Angeles Titanic book reviewer got any on him when he whitewashed the loathsome former President Jimmah Carter in this morning’s edition.
Jimmah, as he has preferred to be known, has written what he and others have variously described as his 20th, 25th or 26th book, “White House Diary,” in which he — with a generous nudge from Mr. Rutten — elevates himself into the upper strata of Presidents.
Mr. Rutten, who obviously admires him, devotes fewer than two sentences to reasons Mr. Carter is universally regarded as an irreversible failure:
• His memorable dithering over the horrific Iranian hostage crisis at the merciful end of his term, 52 Americans held captive for 444 days, until President Reagan liberated them.
• Advocating policies triggering double-digit inflation, all the way to 20 unbelievable percent, plunging the country into sustained panic.
The flailing incompetence of the current President, Mr. Obama, increasingly has been compared to the equally overwhelmed administration of Jimmah Carter. Neither came to Washington with a seed of an idea of what awaited him. The embarrassing results in both cases run parallel.
In the 30 years since even Democrat voters hooted “good riddance,” Jimmah has traveled the world using an air pump on his formerly sagging image, constantly saluting himself as he oversaw a long chain of crooked international elections. In between, he sounded like a chippy ex-wife as he assaulted any Republican within sound of his voice.
Flag-waving Hatred
But what I will remember first and worst about this vile man is his oily hatred of Jews and of Israel.
He celebrates Palestinian terrorists, writes books about Palestinians being denied their rights by “extremist” Jews and “radical Israeli governments” while absolving the other side of blame.
Arafat was his idea of a leader.
He calls Prime Minister Netanyahu of Israel a liar on CNN, delighted that his voice will be heard live in a country he seethingly hates.
Mr. Rutten skirted all of these offenses against niceness. Blowing off Mr. Carter’s proud anti-Semitism, ignoring the hostage crisis and forgetting the historic inflation, Mr. Rutten, instead, with a straight face honored his “remarkable achievements — creation of the Departments of Energy and Education, the Camp David Accords, settlement of the Panama Canal issue, regulatory overhaul and a record of legislative success surpassed only by Lyndon B. Johnson in the post-war era.”
Why ‘Worst’ Is Valid
Are those the reasons angry voters booed him all the way home when he tried for a second term?
Often referred to as the “Worst President in the 20th Century at Least,” you know he must have been an authentically heartless clunker because Jimmah is a Democrat and so are all the media boys who plastered that historic label onto his hate-throbbing forehead.
But, as ministers, priests and rabbis tell you when a family member dies, “Time will heal your wounds.” So they have with Jimmah, in his objective view.
Jimmah should kiss the hands and the feet of every clock he encounters.
A week before his 86th birthday, one of the youngest Presidents in history is telling television interviewers he is the most superior of former Presidents because of his long record of combating human rights abuses.
I would adjust the dial to read: One of the Most Despicable Figures in Modern Political Life.
For Jimmah to tout his work on correcting human rights violations is like a wifebeater bragging about the monsterish strength in his right arm.
Thirty years ago, this peanut-brained peanut farmer was chased out of Washington with the seat of his pants going up — or down — in blazes.
In his re-election bid in 1980, he was practically walloped off the planet by Ronald Reagan, who was the Christine O’Donnell of his day, rhetorically mooned by journalists who choose to mock instead of joust.
The moral: Regardless of your flawed character, if you live long enough, you can get even with practically everyone.
