Jimmy Carter applies for encore North Korea gig

Jimmy Carter tells Maureen Dowd “I would go” to North Korea to negotiate with Kim Jong Un. Apparently, he has told the Trump administration, via its national security adviser H.R. McMaster, the same thing.

So far, says Carter, the response has been negative.

Carter doubts that China can help rein in North Korea. The Chinese have no relationship with Kim Jong Un, he explains.

Carter doesn’t either. However, he has a relationship with the dictator’s grandfather. In 1994, he negotiated a disastrous deal with the regime and managed to foist it on President Clinton. The current crisis is the fruit of that deal.

I’m pretty sure Carter would be welcome in Pyongyang.

I say, give Jimmy a chance. While he’s at it, President Trump can ask George W. Bush to draft immigration reform legislation on the administration’s behalf. Then, he can enlist Barack Obama to negotiate a free trade deal with Iran.

In his interview with Dowd, Carter take a conciliatory attitude towards Trump. He says America’s poor image in the world predates the current president. Indeed, according to Dowd, Carter was harder on Barack Obama than on Trump.

Carter likes Trump’s outreach to Saudi Arabia. And he denies that Russian interference in the 2016 election affected the outcome. “I don’t think there’s any evidence that what the Russians did changed enough votes, or any votes,” the former president sensibly opines, with his wife Rosalynn dissenting.

As for the media’s treatment of Trump, Carter says this:

I think the media have been harder on Trump than any other president certainly that I’ve known about. I think they feel free to claim that Trump is mentally deranged and everything else without hesitation.

These truthful words must be music to Trump’s ears, but not to the point that he’s going to accept the services of Jimmy Carter on North Korea or any other matter.

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