In an interview on NBC’s ‘Meet the Press,’ Carter, 89, expressed sadness that Obama never asks for his opinion. Carter said that many other past Presidents have gotten in touch with him.
Jimmy Carter wants President Obama to pick up the phone.The former commander-in-chief expressed sadness during an interview Sunday that Obama doesn’t ever call him for advice.
“Unfortunately, the answer is no,” Carter, 89, said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” after he was asked whether Obama ever calls him to ask for his opinion on domestic and international matters.
“President Obama doesn’t, but previous Presidents have called on me and the Carter Center to take action,” Carter added, listing situations in which former Presidents George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush and even Ronald Reagan have enlisted his help or opinion.
When asked why he thought Obama refused to get in touch for his thoughts on domestic and international matters, Carter suggested that it had to do with their differing views on how to best achieve peace in the Middle East.
“That’s a hard question for me to answer with complete candor,” Carter said. “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,” he added.
Carter, who was President from 1977 to 1981, also expressed fear that the federal government is “probably” spying on him.
Read More:The Daily News
