The scene was vintage Carter. No pomp. No frills. It recalled the days when the president from Plains carried his own suitcase and banished "Hail to the Chief." A simple table, draped in blue velvet, occupied center stage at the Carter Presidential Center awaiting the start of an old-fashioned town meeting, where anyone could pose questions to the former president and first lady. When Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter arrived, the audience of more than 400 came to their feet. Then the two, each in turn, typical of these forerunners of Bill and Hillary Clinton, reported on the center's many activities. The atmosphere was easy and good-natured. Jimmy chided Rosalynn for taking more than the agreed-upon five minutes to report on Africa. "That's all right," he grinned. "We'll just forget Haiti." Clearly, Haiti was the reason for a late surge in $25 ticket sales to the town meeting and the reason the world again was at Jimmy Carter's door.
These are heady days at the Carter Center, days that boldly underline the Georgian's success in finding a meaningful role in life after the White House. Already, he is known as America's best ex-president, the most exemplary since John Quincy Adams went to Congress after the White House and championed the antislavery cause. Carter has used his high profile and easy access to world leaders to become a champion for peace and democracy, globe-trotting from Panama to Pakistan, Haiti to Ethiopia, to mediate conflicts, monitor elections and alleviate pain. With missionary zeal, he has distinguished himself from others in this most rarefied club. And now with Haiti, he is called on to serve the country again. Another president, another Southern Democrat on a rough ride through Washington, asked him to resolve a national crisis. And Carter delivered an accord and, at least for the moment, averted a war.
But the national debate over what he and his delegation delivered points out the potential pitfalls of using a former president in such a prominent official role. While he was positioned to rescue the Clinton White House politically, using skills honed and relationships built during and after his presidency, Carter came to the task as a private citizen, guided mainly by his passion for peace. He operated under instructions from a president but was free to criticize that president's policies even as he negotiated in his behalf. And free to return to the calm of Atlanta when the job was done.
Now, it is Bill Clinton who must face the fallout and answer questions about this accord: Does it put the United States in bed with dictators? Did it give the thugs too much time, too little punishment? Will Haiti be another Somalia, with American soldiers sucked into a spiral of violence that they were not sent in to quell?
These are good times for Citizen Carter, liberated from Washington and clear in his goals, but for President Clinton it's a different story -- the difference between residing in the White House and not.
