Mr President for good
http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,3604,1335103,00.html
Many believe that Jimmy Carter's record since leaving the White House
is far more impressive than anything he did in it. He tells Oliver
Burkeman why he's happy with his presidential years, how Bush
exploited 9/11 - and why America owes its independence to the French
Monday October 25, 2004
The Guardian
There can be few jobs in the United States Secret Service as cushy as
being one of Jimmy Carter's bodyguards. You get to wear the cool
earpiece, and ride in the blacked-out SUV, but, seriously, who's going
to want to attack the most decent man to have occupied the White House
in living memory? Wherever they go, George Bush, John Kerry and Bill
Clinton are surrounded by burly, paranoid-looking men, ready to
wrestle you to the ground if you breathe at them wrongly. But on a
crisp autumn day at the Carter Centre, a human-rights institute
sprawled over 35 leafy acres in Atlanta, Carter's security detail are
relaxing near one of the entrances, trading jokes, while their
80-year-old charge works unmonitored within. Nearby, the young
researchers showing up for work in jeans exude the happy calm of
people whose jobs mesh well with their consciences. As they pass in
the pink-walled lobby, they pause, make eye contact, and wish you good
morning like they really mean it. All of which makes the question of
how to address Carter slightly fraught. The standard practice (though
not, I later learn, the official etiquette) is to call all former
presidents "Mr President". But somewhere this informal, can that
really be appropriate?
Jimmy Carter
http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&selm=18510aff.0403220316.78acb113%40posting.google.com
Oliver Burkeman
http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&selm=18510aff.0410020030.4c6c439%40posting.google.com
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