In Defense of Speaking Ill of Jimmy Carter

By Philip Klein

Monday, December 30, 2024

 

I have a piece on the main site that is a harsh critique of Jimmy Carter’s legacy. Some readers objected to posting it so soon after his death, citing the old maxim “don’t speak ill of the dead.” While I think that expression can often be a good rule of thumb, I don’t think it applies in every case, particularly not here.

 

Carter wasn’t some random public figure, he served as president of the United States and influenced world affairs for decades after leaving office. He didn’t die in a shocking or sudden manner (like an assassination or terrible car accident in his 50s) – he died at 100, after spending nearly two years in hospice.

 

Plenty of other people will give Carter his due. His memorial services will stretch for eight days, with events in Atlanta and Washington, D.C. He will lie in state at the Capitol Rotunda and have a funeral at the National Cathedral, where he will be eulogized by the sitting president and surrounded by former presidents as well as dignitaries from around the world.

 

In the meantime, the corporate media is treating us to nonstop fawning coverage of Carter that whitewashes his true record. It’s unclear to me why I should feel the need to wait days, or weeks, to deliver an accurate assessment of his disastrous legacy that corrects this prevailing narrative.

 

I have always striven to write the truth, and there is no way I could have written about Carter without reminding people, in detail, that he was a terrible president and an even worse former president.