Jimmy Carter: The Outsider's Legacy in Washington

Barack Obama and his team considered former presidents for the 2008 Democratic National Convention but chose not to invite Jimmy Carter to speak. As Carter approaches his 100th birthday, his legacy as a government outsider and global humanitarian is gaining recognition. This summary delves into Carter's unique presidential journey, highlighting his enduring impact and outsider status.

Barack Obama and his advisers had two living former presidents to consider as they planned the 2008 Democratic National Convention.

Bill Clinton, eight years removed from the Oval Office, remained an image of centrist success that warranted a primetime speaking slot. But Jimmy Carter's landslide defeat to Ronald Reagan lingered, even 28 years later.

"It was still an epithet: Another Jimmy Carter," David Axelrod, top Obama adviser and confidant, said in an interview.

Obama decided against inviting Carter to the podium in Denver. The Georgia Democrat was featured in a video instead. "He, justifiably I think, he was a little miffed about that," Axelrod said, adding that the decision was a "painful one" for Obama.

Now, as Carter nears his 100th birthday, the 39th president is being lauded not just for his longevity but for his accomplishments in government, his work as a global humanitarian and, as Obama himself said in a birthday tribute for his fellow Democrat, "for always finding new ways to remind us that we are all created in God's image".

It's a preview, of sorts, of what will happen when Carter's long life ends and the nation pays tribute with state funeral rites in Washington. The praise, though, carries some irony for a president who campaigned against the ways of Washington and was an outcast of sorts even during his four years in the White House. To be sure, many presidential hopefuls campaign that way — Clinton and Reagan did it, too.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley of South Carolina tried it as recently as the 2024 GOP primaries. But for Carter, being a loner even as a power player has been, perhaps, the defining posture of his life — sometimes by circumstance, sometimes by design.

"Jimmy Carter was always an outsider," said biographer Jonathan Alter.

(With inputs from agencies.)