Seymour Hersh said that Obama is

[malaise]

talking to Carter and this is the first time a sitting President has called on Carter since Carter left office.

[blondeatlast]

1. I so hope this is true.

Please, oh, please, let it be true. We almost had peace in the ME--I'm (just) old enough to remeber that!

[malaise]

5. Here's a link

but I was watching Hersh and Amy Goodman on CSpan 1.
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/04/06/090406fa_fact_hersh
<snip>
A senior White House official confirmed that the Obama transition team had been informed in advance of Carter’s trip to Syria, and that Carter met with Obama shortly before the Inauguration. The two men—Obama was accompanied only by David Axelrod, the President’s senior adviser, who helped arrange the meeting; and Carter by his wife, Rosalynn—discussed the Middle East for an hour. Carter declined to discuss his meeting with Obama, but he did write in an e-mail that he hoped the new President “would pursue a wide-ranging dialogue as soon as possible with the Assad government.” An understanding between Washington and Damascus, he said, “could set the stage for successful Israeli-Syrian talks.”


and here's the response from the usual suspects
http://docstalk.blogspot.com/2009/04/seymour-hersh-says-carter-is-advising.html

[lunatica]

7. That was peace between Egypt and Israel, which is still in place

[omega minimo]

2. Good on them

[saltpoint]

3. Barack Obama is an impressive soul. He is wise to seek counsel from Carter.

[stillcool]

4. I wish Seymour Hirsch, William Blum,..

and Noam Chomsky would teach a course in American History and have it available for free on the tv.

[Captain Hilts]

6. That's not true. nt

[blondeatlast]

8. Care to explain? nt

[Captain Hilts]

13. Clinton consulted Carter on the Middle East. nt

[blondeatlast]

14. Got it--I thought you were saying that Carter and Obama were not talking. nt

[Captain Hilts]

15. Not at all. Obama, like Bubba, prizes the presidency and its history.

FYI, Harry Truman's accusation that FDR never talked to Herbert Hoover also is untrue, despite Hoover's being a vocal opponent of FDR's policies throughout the 1930s. The most famous case where HH rebuffed FDR was around '40 when FDR wanted Hoover to reprise his great relief work from the First World War and work with Eleanor on dealing with refugees coming into the US. Hoover was not interested.

Sad. Instead, FDR ended up relying on Congress and appointed a right wing crank, Breckenridge Long, to the post in charge and thousands died because of his bigotry toward refugees. Eleanor said he was a fascist. FDR told her not to say so. "Well, he is one," was her response, and she was right.

Had Hoover - a true humanitarian and Republican - gotten a post in this field a lot of lives would have been saved.

[cagesoulman]

9. That's a smart move

The middle east is a tinderbox.

[shadowknows69]

10. That is good news. As long as he's also listening with an open mind.

If he's just doing it to placate certain Dems then its all the same dog and pony show. Carter has never been silent about his outrage at how this country has been run lately.

[MADem]

11. I do not think that is accurate at all. In fact, I KNOW it isn't.

Carter served as Clinton's envoy to North Korea and led a CODEL there, and they weren't terribly friendly. He also did Clinton's bidding in Haiti and Africa: http://articles.latimes.com/1998/may/02/news/mn-45603

...Despite all the problems in their relationship, Carter carved out an expansive role for himself as a special presidential envoy and played a crucial role in easing foreign policy crises in North Korea and Haiti.

And Carter's relationship with Clinton was strengthened after Madeleine Albright, who had been a foreign policy advisor in the Carter White House, replaced Christopher as secretary of State. Unlike Christopher, Albright keeps Carter personally and regularly apprised of foreign developments, according to Brinkley.

And Clinton himself has reached out to Carter, praising both his religious book, "Living Faith," and the Carter Center in Atlanta. Brinkley reports that the former president, using the Carter Center as his base of operations, has monitored elections in 17 countries, distributed medications for preventing river blindness to more than 11 million people in Africa and Latin America, and made personal appeals to world leaders that have resulted in freedom for thousands of political prisoners.

Clinton, who aides say will probably model his proposed library in Little Rock, Ark., after the Carter Center, last year praised Carter as "a great resource" and the Atlanta center as "not just a library but an active, vibrant place where he could promote agricultural development and fight disease and advance democracy and human rights and monitor elections. . . . There's really almost no parallel for it in the history of the country."

[Captain Hilts]

16. Correctamundo. Those that don't know history are condemned to spread bad info. nt

[Peace Patriot]

19. Seymour Hersh is no slouch as to history, so I think we had better see a quote--

what he actually said, and a citation to the source, before we jump to conclusions about Hersh's inaccuracy. Anybody can make a mistake, forget things, etc. Hersh is one of the least likely public figures to do so, in my opinion. So I would like to see what he actually said, in context, in the original.

[Captain Hilts]

20. He's gotten suckered occasionally. nt

[MADem]

23. The "inaccuracy" gripe has to do with the assertion in the OP. No one is beating up

on Hersch, they're beating up on the claim, without citation, that tops the thread.

[malaise]

17. Hersh was speaking about the Middle East n/t

[MADem]

22. Well, that's not true either.

Carter has served as a "plausibly deniable" envoy to Egypt, Palestine, Syria and other nations in the region during both Clinton AND Bush2. He briefed Condi Rice on "what to do" before her first trip.

Carter may not have been in love with either Bush or Clinton, but he's a patriot. He'll put his personal views aside for the sake of the country.

[malaise]

24. Thanks n/t

[TahitiNut]

12. He'd be one of the first I'd ask for advice and perspective.

While I might not agree with how he'd choose to act, I sure would value his perspectives.

[leftchick]

18. I heard that too

but am doubtful he would take any of his advice given Rahm being his right hand man.

[Ohio Joe]

21. Good news

President Carter is a man of peace.