Reflections on Jimmy Carter, a New Hit Pop Song, and the Return of Leana Wen

Have a great New Year and see you all in 2025!

In March 1976, Time magazine profiled a Democratic governor from Georgia who was making a long-shot bid for the presidency. A former peanut farmer, he was viewed as an oddity in progressive circles. He talked about his relationship with Jesus and promised not to tell a lie when (not if) he was elected president. Even more shocking, he promised to slash bureaucracy if elected, pledging to reduce the number of federal bureaus to 200 from 1,900.

“If you don’t want to see the government completely reorganized,” he told one audience, “don’t vote for me.”

That man, as many readers likely guessed, was Jimmy Carter.

Carter died over the weekend, and the anecdote above comes from my column in the Washington Examiner (read it here), where I make the case that Carter was not as bad of a president as Americans think.

The fact that I found some good things to say about Carter following his death triggered plenty of Twitter users, who’ve responded with name calling. I expect many readers here on Substack might also take issue with my thesis, and that’s fine.

You can tell me why I’m wrong in the comments, but please, please READ THE ARTICLE before popping off in the comments.