Carter, Clinton, and Gore have all done pretty cool stuff after leaving office. In fact, didn't Carter also win the Nobel Peace Prize for his humanitarian work?
What did Reagan, Ford, or the older Bush do after leaving office?
Carter is the biggest asshole ex-president there has been since Andrew Jackson. Throughout the ENTIRE 20th century, there was an unspoken rule that you don't criticize the guy in the seat now. You can criticize guys who have had the seat after they're out of office, but not in it.
Bill Clinton didn't violate that rule, and his presidency was one of the most polarizing in our nation's history. (I'm not saying the nut-jobs on the right didn't play a willing role, but the barbs flew both ways.) Carter helped broker the deal that gave North Korea nuclear fuel for their first successfully making a (grossly inefficient and marginally effective) nuclear weapon. That was top-notch work on behalf of Americans there! Yay!
Carter has demonized Israel as a civil rights oppressor and defended Hamas as a political organization. Interesting that Arab citizens in Israel can vote, isn't it? Meanwhile, Hamas has taken over the Gaza strip through force against fellow Palestinians (Fatah police forces were murdered in the streets). Carter is an olleagenous supporter of terrorists against the United States' own interests. He is an apparatchik for the radical left.
Clinton has done some good things with NGOs around the world. He's not been particularly modest about it, but I don't mind that because his return on donations is higher than anything the United Nations does. Clinton has been mostly quiet about what he disagrees with from the current Presidential administration. That's as it should be, but it also may have something to do with the fact that his wife's candidacy says what he wants to say for him (I'm not calling him a mouthpiece).
Bush 1 - I couldn't really tell you what he's done, except to sign on with Clinton after the tsunami disaster in Southeast Asia. Bush 1 is known for modesty. Surely he's involved in non-profit work of some type, but I couldn't tell you.
Reagan quickly fell victim to Alzheimer's. By the early 90s he'd lost the ability even to ride horses, his favorite past time. His wife Nancy was tirelessly devoted to causes for charity, while never getting farther than an hour away from her ailing, dimented husband. But hey, if you want to call that selfish in the face of Carter's great humanitarian works in the name of Hamas and North Korea, go for it.
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I regret that I didn't see this thread when it came up. The only point I'd like to add is not what regan did when he left office but what he didn't do and that is steal most of the furnishings and decorations in the white house. It was said that Clinton did some cool things when he left. C'mon... he and his wife stole a bunch of shit from the white house then tried screwing things up for the new-comer.
How can anyone, right or left, be down on regan? He saved not only our country but the world from communism or socialism or whatever you want to call the soviets back in their hey-day. A good movie to watch is called IN THE FACE OF EVIL... Reagans war in word and deed. We could only be so lucky as to have someone like reagan running our country again.
The first paragraph was written to get a rise. I always thought the image of Clinton's throwing a big farewell kegger with all their cronies plundering the white house was comical. Animal house re-visited. Who wouldn't want to party with Bill.
I realize the question was a bit deeper than when they immediately left office... the day after the party. I was just having some fun. I personally don't care that a few robes and towels were missing and they could have had it all pefect for W and he still would have screwed up.
The Regan paragraph is honest though. It was explained pretty good about Reagans condition after office or towards the end. It's not fair or even possible for us to question his after office tributes. I think he did enough during his Presidency.
Unbelievable,good ol' saint Ronnie and Carter is such an asshole.Are you guys,rmpeddie and Heliodorus, on planet earth or planet America?There is so much wrong with your utterly ridiculous world view that I don't even know where to start.Please inform yourselves.
IT IS NOT THE REST OF HUMANITIES OBLIGATION TO COMPLY WITH OUR SELFISH INTERESTS,THOSE DAYS ARE COMING TO AN END ,AND YOU BETTER COME TO TERMS WITH IT!standing up for your rights does not equate to terrorism,it's just a label the powerful slap on the non compliant.your buddy REAGAN is largely responsible for creating the power vacuum currently being filled by Pan Islamic Fudamentalism,and facilitating the consolidation of wealth and corporatism gone wild that is plaguing this world.
It is odd the conservatives hate Clinton so much more than other liberals,he was fairly liberal on most social issues,but was really a centrist economically and on foriegn policy, i guess because he proved you could be pro business and pro government.Not to mention his term coincided with the rise of right wing radio and Fox,who have demonstrated that repitition trumps facts when it comes to public oppinion.
Yes Heliodorus,I watched that video on the Ron Paul thread where he laid out the libertarian philosophy and his version of the political and economic spectrums,eg his debunking of the 'centrist',interesting and to his credit he is upfront about his principles and reasoning.Though I don't agree with him on many things, that is the way I wish politicos would operate.The problem with Libertarians is that they have blind faith in business which is unelected and unaccountable and driven solely by the profit motive and whose power/wealth is permanent. They have absolute contempt of government,which is at least supposed to be elected ,accountable ,and temporarily empowered,and motivated by the public interest.What we need is integrity and competence in government and informed participation by the citizenry,not laissez-faire blind greed capitalism.We need to riegn in the rich not cut them more slack.
When you lump socialism in with communism it only shows your misunderstanding of what the socialists intentions are and fails to acknowledge the REALITY that most other modern urban industrialized societies have some measure of socialism integrated in thier systems and are as free or freer than we are.Why is it that 99 percent of the bitching about socialized medicine in Europe or Canada is from American conservatives not the citizens of those countries?
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