Presidential historian Jon Meacham argued Monday on MSNBC's “Morning Joe” that former President Jimmy Carter cared about politicians' personalities, but most voters don't.
“What I think about President Carter is that he is a complex person, like all people in public life, driven by different factors: ambition and service,” Meacham said. When you look at the president of the United States and most of the major leaders on this stage, you see this kind of tension.”
“You have someone who believed in the ability of human nature to make our lives, and the lives of those less fortunate, better, stronger, and more noble, but who also believed in the limits of human endeavor. Some people recognized it.”
Mr. Meacham continued, “What we are considering and what we are experiencing this week is something that often happens in American life. It is a great public commemoration, a great public event. “Contemplation can tell us as much about ourselves as it tells us about ourselves.” A figure to be contemplated and commemorated. I think what you're looking at with the passing of Jimmy Carter is a sad but illuminating example of a man who believed in the centrality of character and the centrality of unchanging beliefs in American society, albeit imperfectly. . Politics where character is not at the forefront of most voters' minds. ”
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