Barack and Michelle Obama paid a wonderful tribute to Jimmy Carter

Former President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama honored Jimmy Carter in the most perfect way possible.

Obama said in a statement to PoliticusUSA.

For decades, you could walk into Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains, Georgia on some Sunday mornings and see hundreds of tourists from all over the world crammed into the pews. And standing in front of them, winking and asking if there were visitors that morning, President Jimmy Carter would prepare to teach Sunday school, just as he had done for most of his adult life.

Some who came to hear him speak were undoubtedly there because of what President Carter achieved during his four years in the White House; the work he has done to diversify the federal judiciary, including the nomination of pioneering women's rights activist and lawyer Ruth Bader Ginsburg to the federal bench; the environmental reforms he implemented, becoming one of the first world leaders to recognize the problem of climate change.

Others were probably there as President Carter achieved the longest and most influential post-presidency in American history; helps virtually eliminate Guinea worm disease, an infection that has plagued Africa for centuries; becoming the only former president to win the Nobel Peace Prize. and with his beloved Rosalyn, built or renovated thousands of homes in more than a dozen countries as part of Habitat for Humanity.

But I'm willing to bet that many people in that church Sunday morning were there, at least in part, because of something more fundamental: President Carter's decency.

Jimmy Carter, elected in the shadow of Watergate, promised voters that he would always tell the truth. And he did, preaching for the public good, consequences be damned. He thought some things were more important than getting re-elected. things like integrity, respect, and compassion. Because Jimmy Carter believed as deeply as anything that we are all made in God's image.

Whenever I had the opportunity to spend time with President Carter, it was clear that he didn't just espouse these values. He embodied them. And in doing so, he taught us all what it means to live with grace, dignity, justice, and service.In his Nobel Prize acceptance speech, President Carter said: “God gives us a choice.” We can choose to work together for peace.

Maranatha Baptist Church will be a little quieter on Sundays, but President Carter will never be far away – buried next to Rosalyn by the willow tree down the road, and her memory calls us all to heed our better angels. Michelle and I Our thoughts and prayers go out to the Carter family and all who loved and learned from this remarkable man.

Jimmy Carter is a man who used the platform he once held to make the world a better place.

Former President Carter did that, and his death lives on in a hole in the fabric of our world's decency that will never be completely filled.

Jason is the editor-in-chief. He is also the White House Press Center and Congressional Correspondent at PoliticusUSA.Jason holds a BA in Political Science with a focus on public policy, specializing in social reform movements.

Awards and professional memberships

Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and the American Political Science Association