Jimmy Carter: Mission Statement Impossible

Updated 12/7 (see end of post)

Powerline has posted the text of an email written by Professor Kenneth Stein of Emory University, who is associated with the Carter Center. In the email, Professor does much more than simply distance himself from Jimmy Carters recent book:

President Carter's book on the Middle East, a title too inflammatory to even print, is not based on unvarnished analyses; it is replete with factual errors, copied materials not cited, superficialities, glaring omissions, and simply invented segments. Aside from the one-sided nature of the book, meant to provoke, there are recollections cited from meetings where I was the third person in the room, and my notes of those meetings show little similarity to points claimed in the book. Being a former President does not give one a unique privilege to invent information or to unpack it with cuts, deftly slanted to provide a particular outlook.

If you take a look at the "Mission Statement" on Carter Center website, you can see how clearly Carter has parted from the philosophy that supposedly guides his actions:

Our Mission
The Carter Center, in partnership with Emory University, is guided by a fundamental commitment to human rights and the alleviation of human suffering; it seeks to prevent and resolve conflicts, enhance freedom and democracy, and improve health. While the program agenda may change, The Carter Center is guided by five principles:

• The Center emphasizes action and results. Based on careful research and analysis, it is prepared to take timely action on important and pressing issues.
  
  
• The Center does not duplicate the effective efforts of others.
  
  
• The Center addresses difficult problems and recognizes the possibility of failure as an acceptable risk.
  
  
• The Center is nonpartisan and acts as a neutral in dispute resolution activities.
  
  
• The Center believes that people can improve their lives when provided with the necessary skills, knowledge, and access to resources.

The Carter Center collaborates with other organizations, public or private, in carrying out its mission.

Based on Carter's book and his actions over the past number of years, one could assume that Carter's Mission statement actual is:

• The Center emphasizes action and results--but not so much the consequences.
  
  
• The Center does not duplicate the effective efforts of others--as long as they have the effect he wants.
  
  
• The Center addresses difficult problems and recognizes the possibility of failure as an acceptable risk--after all, he doesn't have to live there.
  
  
• The Center is nonpartisan and acts as a neutral in dispute resolution activities--on behalf of the side he chooses.
  
  
• The Center believes that people can improve their lives when provided with the necessary skills, knowledge, and access to resources--and when he gets around to it, Carter may himself actually provide himself with those skills, knowledge, and access to resources.
  

Regardless of what you think of Carter the President, since leaving office Carter not only continues to be a caricature of incompetence, but has clearly been consumed by his flaming bias as well.

Update: At The Corner, a student who says he is the one who sent the email to Powerline, writes:

Let me assure you that Emory alumni (at least the Jews) are abuzz and wholly supportive of Stein. That said — Emory being what it is (a typical PC stronghold) —
Stein will undoubtedly be vilified by student "journalists" and "activists," and the administration will issue some sort of diversity-claptrap-laden missive declaring its "disappointment" that Stein should choose to end his work at the Carter Center over a difference in "point of view."

Update II: Looks like the student above was not far off--From the ABC blog Political Punch:

Speaking to the NEW YORK TIMES Tulane historian Douglas Brinkley, author of the 1988 Carter biography, "The Unfinished Presidency," paints the dispute as more ideological than ethical.

"They've never been on the same page in the Middle East. They've been in an almost constant state of disagreement. Carter has used him as a sounding board but apparently Carter went too far and the sparring partner decided to bloody him up," Brinkley said. "Ken Stein ... doesn't trust the Palestinians as much as Carter."

As a college student, I interned for Dr. Stein at the Carter Center in 1988. He's a stand-up guy, one committed to trying to find a peaceful solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and one certainly open to the Palestinian point of view.

My work for Stein revolved around research about THE BENELUX STATES -- the economic union that allows Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxemboug to function together while existing separately. I also researched ways in which Israel and the Palestinians were intertwined infrastructurally -- water supplies, for instance. This is not the work of a man turning a deaf ear to the needs of the Palestinians -- it's the work of a man researching ways to achieve peace.

Technorati Tag: Jimmy Cater and Israel and Carter Center and Stein.