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I interviewed Jimmy Carter once on the margins of a UN development conference when everyone, including him, was going on about the iniquities of western agricultural subsidies and their effect on low-income countries. So naturally I asked him 1/n https://twitter.com/ianbremmer/status/1311663081605468160
why he hadn't done subsidy reform as president, quite apart from benefiting from them as a farmer himself. Normally when you ask ex-pols this you get a load of "well, it was all very difficult, you have to understand we couldn't get the support, we had other priorities" etc./ 2/n
Instead of which he said: "I was wrong. I didn't know then what I know how. I have learned from my mistakes". Whether saying things like that helps move the current debate along I have no idea, I'm not a politician. But in terms of personal honesty it was quite an answer. 3/3
One other thing: you can regard Carter as a bad president (I would say more unlucky than bad, but hey). However it's hard to argue with the contention that he's had the most constructive, hardworking and selfless post-presidency of the modern era. 4/3
