If you act like he’s that embarrassing uncle who farts a lot, you may not be a liberal. I notice when Jimmy Carter speaks up about the Israeli/Palestinian War, rarely does he draw much support from the liberal blogosphere. And when he does, it’s usually conditional: I agree with Carter on ‘this’, but he’s offbase on’that’.

It’s weak.

Carter, after all, reached the White House as a right of center moderate, the most conservative Democrat to reach that position since at least Truman, and perhaps the most conservative in a century. Liberals were not enthused.

But by the time he left, he’d established himself as a champion of human rights, the greatest since Eleanor Roosevelt was half-president. Now there was a straight-talk express. He delivered reality, no matter how troubling or morose things were. He was no spinmeister and his rep suffered from his aversion to PR.

And he had inherited a mess. The economy was weak and headed weaker as the bills from Vietnam came due, and OPEC added its oil-price shock to that. When he honored a commitment to an ally that others had made, allowing the Shah of Iran to come to the US for cancer treatment, the Islamic Revolution created a hostage situation that ultimately cost him reelection. The perception was he was weak.

Not a single US soldier died due to enemy fire during his term. All of the longterm hostages in Iran came home. Carter didn’t sacrifice his cool to demonstrate US power. He sacrificed his own re-election.

And about South Africa or China or anywhere human rights were being sorely violated, he was right. He wasn’t popular when the US boycotted the Olympics, but he was right.

He was also the first American or global citizen to facilitate a breakthrough truce between Israel and Egypt. Nobody can ever diminish what was accomplished there by Carter, though Begin and Sadat deserved great credit, too. Carter’s critics will point out that the region’s peace didn’t hold, but since pre-Moses, nobody had ever brokered a deal between the two nations that has come anywhere close to the result Carter obtained.

And he’s earned the right to be heard, even when he’s sharply critical of Israel’s government choices. He understands that peace is an incremental process where hate is so strong and death so common. Carter critics abound, but not a one has advanced a temporary or permanent solution that’s in the same ballpark as those Carter offers. It’s good that Carter doesn’t need to soothe any macho pride to keep on doing what he does so well, as he never fails to direct people to the avenues that lead to peace.

Israel is abusing the Palestinians and was doing so before the latest round of major hostilities began. Things will never improve in the region till Israel’s government demonstrates a humanity that’s been absent for nearly the past quarter century. Few places in the world better demonstrate the wisdom of Gandhi’s adage that “an eye for an eye eventually leaves everyone blind.”

Despite his advanced age and the political wounds he’s endured, nobody sees the situation better than Jimmy Carter. He’s calling it an ‘unnecessary war’ and he’s exactly right. Israel’s government is exactly wrong.

much of the basic infrastructure of the small but heavily populated area have been destroyed. This includes the systems that provide water, electricity and sanitation. Heavy civilian casualties are being reported by courageous medical volunteers from many nations, as the fortunate ones operate on the wounded by light from diesel-powered generators.

I’ve seen Israel’s ’solution for the past 40 years: for every Israeli death ‘they’ cause, ‘we’ll’ cause 20 in return. Peace has never resulted that way. Moral blindness and repetitive failure to reach a lasting truce is what they have to show from that course.

Sure, Palestinian leader errors abound as well. Their people have paid a horrific toll for that. But ultimately, no observer can expect Palestinians to roll over and submit simply because Israel’s got more weapons, more troops, more economic muscle, more of everything. Maybe critics of Palestine really hope they can all be killed and then peace will come.

Jimmy Carter, however, keeps plugging away. Advancing, always, a better alternative than a rain of human destruction. Maybe there actually are even better alternatives. But, from his critics and from liberals who won’t stand up for Carter, I keep hearing nothing that has actually advanced any peace in the Gaza Strip. Theories abound. But occasional success is evident on Carter’s resume. And his wisdom always deserves respectful consideration.

And his critics? Well, they think politics matters more than life itself. They, ultimately, have most consistently earned the tag of being weak.

Note: Barbara O’Brien is one of the very few lefty bloggers who even mentioned Carter’s op-ed today. And her points are exceptionally well-made.