Jimmy Carter: Obama the Only President So Far Not to Call Me for Advice
Jimmy Carter has been very active in the decades since his presidency, and his successors have occasionally called for his advice. Except, it turns out, the current occupant of the office. A clip from Carter’s upcoming Meet the Press interview reveals that President Obama is the first president since Carter left office not to solicit the Southern Democrat’s advice.
Carter explained, “President Clinton did and President George W. Bush and H.W. Bush and even Ronald Reagan used to call on us to go into sensitive areas.” They all asked Carter to deal with “unsavory characters,” but Obama hasn’t reached out to Carter for similar consulting.
Carter admitted he couldn’t answer with “complete candor,” only saying that it was the result of a dispute between the administration and the Carter Center on Middle East policy, a “sensitive area in which the president didn’t want to be involved.” Carter, however, holds no ill will towards Obama, because he “understand[s] those sensitivities” and doesn’t have a problem with Obama not actively soliciting him.