Former President Jimmy Carter said during a broadcast interview that President Obama never calls him for advice — and that’s a point of regret and even sadness for him.
Mr. Carter also said that he believes he’s been targeted by government snoopers, and doesn’t feel comfortable using email for important correspondences, the New York Daily News reported.
He was asked on NBC’s “Meet the Press” if Mr. Obama ever reached out to him for advice on various policy matters. His response?
“Unfortunately, the answer is no,” said Mr. Carter, 89, the New York Daily News reported. “President Obama doesn’t, but previous presidents have called on me and the Carter Center to take action.”
Even President Ronald Reagan has reached out for his advice, Mr. Carter said. So have former White House Presidents George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, but not Mr. Obama.
“[Why] is a hard question for me to answer with complete candor,” Mr. Carter said, of Mr. Obama’s silence, in the interview.
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“I think the problem was that in dealing with the issue of peace between Israel and Egypt, the Carter Center has taken a very strong position of equal treatment … and I think this was a sensitive area in which the president didn’t want to be involved. But I can understand those sensitivities, and I don’t have any criticism of him.”
Mr. Carter also revealed in the interview that even he has paranoia about government tapping of his private correspondences.
“I have felt that my own communications are probably monitored,” he said, The New York Daily News reported. “And when I want to communicate with a foreign leader privately, I type or write the letter myself, put it in the post office and mail it, because I believe if I send an email, it will be monitored.”
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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