Former President Jimmy Carter has probably erased any momentary, fleeting guilt pangs that President George Bush may have felt about not letting him be on the official delegation at the Pope’s funeral with his latest blunt salvo — this time saying rich countries “don’t give a damn” about the poor.
Carter’s comments are sure to stir up a hornet’s nest of controversy on the Internet and talk radio. But since he left office, Carter has shown he could care less about one of the requirements when he was in office — diplomacy:
Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter on Thursday harshly criticized his own country and other wealthy states for being stingy with foreign aid and said in rich countries “We really don’t give a damn.”
In a speech to a human rights conference in Atlanta, Carter said increasing financial assistance was critical to battling malaria, AIDS and other common diseases that disproportionately affect the poorest parts of the world.
“Unfortunately, in the rich countries like ours, we really don’t give a damn,” said Carter, who was president from 1977 to 1981 and who won a Nobel Peace Prize in 2002.
He especially criticized the United States for failing to follow other Western nations which are increasing spending. Although America tops the foreign aid donor list in dollar terms, it falls behind the Netherlands, Canada and many other smaller, less affluent nations when contributions are measured on a per capita basis.
If you remember, this also became an issue in the aftermath of December’s catastrophic South Asian tsunami, when the U.S. was accused by some of being stingy with relief aid. The White House later signifantly upped the amount that the U.S. gave to help to put it at the forefront of tsuanmi aid. But in general:
U.S. foreign aid is approximately 0.18 percent of gross national product, the lowest of any G-7 nation and far below a 0.7 percent United Nations target that 22 of the world’s developed nations have agreed to meet by 2015.
A handful have met the goal, while others such as Germany and Great Britain insist they will achieve it.
“We have not budged so far,” lamented Carter, who has spearheaded efforts through his non-profit Carter Center to eradicate diseases in the developing world, including Guinea worm and onchocerciasis, also known as river blindness.
Carter has been a thorn in the side of every President who followed his presidency, which is generally acknowledged to have been one of the least successful of the 20th century. It didn’t seem to be an accident that Carter didn’t go with President George Bush, Bush’s father, and former President Bill Clinton to the Pope’s funeral.
PREDICTION: If there’s another big funeral, don’t expect Carter on that official delegation, either..
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.