Carter V. Bush

Jimmy Carter is saying about the Bush administration what many presidential historians and indeed millions of people across America and around the world are saying. Surely, Mr. Carter does not make "reckless" or "irrelevant" statements. He has always been a politician precise and careful in his speech.

Mr. Carter doesn't criticize flippantly. Meanwhile, it seems the best the White House can do is try to deflect this pointed criticism with as much flimsy flippancy as it can muster. Mr. Carter is concerned for this nation's good will and ill will at home and abroad. On the other hand, Mr. Bush has taken a devil-may-care attitude. Who seems the better statesman? Who better represents the wise course? Carter's criticism may seem harsh, but he remains by far the wiser and more careful of the two. He makes Bush look like a punk gunslinger, a spoiled silver-spoon brat, a smarmy-mouthed kid who should have gone home long ago.