Jimmy Carter Is Right

Former President Jimmy Carter is today backing off his scathing criticism of the Bush Administration. In the Saturday article in the Arkansas-Democrat Gazette, he said that the Bush Administration was the worst in history for international relations. Today he said those remarks were careless.

I am in Brazil on vacation and I believe that what President Carter has said is the view of most of the worlds people. In my brief conversations with Brazilians, they have told me how much they hate President Bush. They have called him a killer, an idiot, a tyrant and the most dangerous man on earth. They have a real fear of him and are reluctant to have their government sign any trade agreements.

Brazilians have a long history of loving all things American. The movie theaters are filled with American movies, the malls filled with American products yet they distrust America and loathe President Bush. Anti-Americanism is high throughout South America and has contributed to the rise of leftist governments in Venezuela and Bolivia. Since President Bush started the Iraq War, I have seen firsthand the decline in the view of America.

Jimmy Carter is being diplomatic when he says his remarks were careless but a majority of the world shares that view. The image of America has been destroyed by the Bush Administration and made our nation less safe as a result.