Carter doesn’t speak, gets ovation
For Jimmy Carter, it was Katrina, not the Middle East.
Democrats were determined not to allow the former president to spoil their Denver party with talk of evenhanded policies in the Middle East. No mention, please, of "Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid," the book whose title set off a firestorm in the pro-Israel community.
So they screened a video of Carter's work helping to rebuild homes in Gulf Coast areas devastated by Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Then Carter did a quick live stage stroll holding wife Rosalynn's hand to a standing ovation and retreated without a word.
(Carter addressed the 2004 convention and even mentioned the Middle East. That, however, was before the book and his meeting this year with Hamas leaders – partly, it must be said, in a bid to free Israeli captive Gilad Shalit.)
The deal was done: A Democratic convention without a difficult Carter moment.
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Justin
08/27/08 07:27 PM
I’m not surprised. Obama spent 23 hours in Isreal compared to one hour meeting with Abbas. Carter probably wouldn’t have mentioned the Isreali occuption anyway. The way he quietly bowed out and explained to the press that it was his choice to not speak indicates his willingness to not upset the carefully choreographed convention anyway. However, I’m sad that he didn’t have the backbone to stand up to such an insult. Barrack Obama’s brother-in-law had stage time for christ’s sake. It’s unfortunate that lobbyists for hardliners in Israel have such a grip on the US congress. Israel’s government serves it’s people about as good as the US government serves it’s people—terribly!