My Word for July 25, 2001

I finally remembered why Jimmy Carter didn't get two terms.

It was because we sat in gas lines for months, and because we were horrified that he botched that hostage rescue, and because his ham fisted handling of the economy put us on the rocks.

So we didn't vote for him the second time around.

I had almost forgotten. After all, most Americans view Jimmy Carter as a sweet old poop, going around the world doing good things, building houses for poor people, negotiating peace in places like Haiti.

But now Jimmy has decided to speak out about George W. Bush, about how disappointed he is that Bush turned out to be so conservative. Jimmy didn't much like Ronald Reagan, either — the prototype conservative … and the guy who threw him out of office.

Jimmy thinks George W. Bush should not be a conservative because half the country wanted the other guy.

So the logic of that is that he should be a president that's half one thing and half the other, making no one happy, and depriving the government of the one thing it needs more than anything else: direction.

Carter's problem was lack of direction. He was moral. He was upstanding. He tried to be all things to all people. He tried to handle an economy as a nuclear scientist would, and we all suffered.

Lastly, Carter calls Bush's plan for a missile defense technologically ridiculous.

Hello? Jimmy? The most recent test — a missile hitting a missile in flight — actually worked.

And if the Russians join in, and both sides reduce the number of their offensive weapons because they share a defense, how would that be such a bad thing?

With all due respect, Mr. Ex-President, I liked you better building houses for the poor.

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