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Derek Malcolm's rating
Jimmy Carter is Mr Nice Guy
By
Derek Malcolm
14 Aug 2008
If awarding the Nobel Peace Prize to Henry Kissinger was beyond parody, giving the same prize to former President Jimmy Carter seems more justified. Here was, and is, a thoroughly good and decent man, as this documentary about him from Jonathan Demme shows.
It follows him, perhaps at rather too great a length, during his tour to support his book Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid. He puts Larry King right about the Israeli-Arab conflict, and deals with both foreign dignitaries and the press with an obstinacy that’s always polite.
The question of whether he was actually a good president is never really asked. But he does carry his own bags at the airport, stands in line for his tickets like everyone else, refuses private jets and only goes first class for security reasons. This is a man it is impossible not to like, even if you think he was a weakish one-term commander-in-chief. At least he was not Nixon or Bush Jr.
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