President Jimmy Carter, and his National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski, have both taken issue with my recent article in Foreign Policy about Obama’s Jeffersonian and Wilsonian foreign policy impulses, entitled “The Carter Syndrome.”
As I said in my reply, my “article was not really about Carter or his administration. It was about the current U.S. president and the intellectual, cultural, and political challenges he faces.” Readers may remember, however, that others have disagreed with the comparisons made and historical frameworks employed in my article.
Of this group of dissenters, however, President Carter is the only person I’ve voted for, and I am honored to have his reply, even if we don’t reach the same conclusions.