What the Carter Center says about the Iraq election

You'd think an organization geared toward (among other things) open and free elections would PRAISE an election which went well, wouldn't you?

Well, if you can find any official statement by Jimmy Carter at the Carter Center website, please point me to it. [If he's just a little slow and adds a statement by the time you read this, nevermind.]

Doesn't the first real election in a country of 25 million in over a HALF CENTURY deserve at least a paragraph press release saying it's a step in the right direction, even if the Carter Center could have done it much better?  Doesn't "W" even get an A for effort?

No comment from Jimmy Carter on this is equivalent to the President of the SPCA not commenting after the drug companies unilaterally decided to no longer use animals for testing. [a hypothetical, of course]

UPDATE: Googling around, I found this Washington Times article, which quotes Carter spokeswoman Kay Torrance as saying: "We wouldn't have any 'yea' or 'nay' statement on Iraq."

2112Z THU 03JAN05

Could it possibly be because Mr. Carter told NBC's "Today" show in September that he was confident the elections would not take place?

"I personally do not believe they're going to be ready for the election in January ... because there's no security there."

Perhaps Jimmy is waiting to jump on the accusations by the Sunnis that the election was unfair.

Or, it's just a case of NIH.

Com'n Jimma! You post news releases about all sorts of world events (including the death of Arafat). Tell us what you NOW think about the Iraq elections, based on what you know now. We'll compare it to what you said earlier and what you say later.

Can't you bring yourself to give even one itty bitty compliment to a Republican?  Have you REALLY risen above politics and become an elder statesmen in your mature post-presidential days, or do you really harbor petty thoughts (like the fact you weren't asked to help?)  Isn't that a little sin?

I can't find anything (as of this posting) other than this op-ed piece by two subordinates [David Carroll is interim director and David Pottie is senior program associate of the Carter Center's Democracy Program.] for the LA Times, which seems to say elections in unstable countries are virtually worthless.

Elections and electoral observers shouldn't be expected to bring democracy to societies in which conflict continues or there is a lack of agreement about basic political institutions. If the electoral system leaves an important community or political group excluded, chances of long-term success are bleak. For example, majority rules and winner-take-all elections can leave a party that enjoys the support of, say, 20% of the population with no elected members. To avoid such an outcome, political negotiation is required before voters go to the polls.

Perhaps this opening paragraph to the Center's Democracy Program page is the official position of Jimmy Carter and his Center regarding the Iraqi election:

While elections are an essential part of the democratic process, elections alone are not enough to make a democracy. One free election does not change the political culture of a society overnight.

Isn't this the new mantra of the Democrats? In football parlance, no matter how far you move the ball, they're constantly moving the goal post.

OK, LET'S BE FAIR

If you hear, see, or read a post-election comment by President Carter (the title is retained), please comment with a link to it.

If he's said ANYTHING the least bit complimentary already, without all the qualifiers Kerry tacked on the end of his luke-warm endorsement, I'll fall all over this blog apologizing for this unjustified chastising.

 

I'm typing this about 5 miles from the Center, so maybe I should drive there and see if I can ask him directly for his opinion. (I did do a little work for him about 35 years ago, and he did attend GT, for a few quarters.) Nah, I wouldn't get past the receptionist or his secretary at best. I'd get about as warm a reception as Michael Moore would at the pentagon. ;-)