Jimmy Carter believes U.S. is ready for a gay president 'in the near future'

Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter believes America is ready for a gay president 'in the near future'

Former President Jimmy Carter believes the U.S. is ready to elect a gay president 'in the near future.'

'I think the entire population has come tremendous strides forward in dealing with the issue of gays,' Carter said in an interview with the website Big Think.

'I don't know about the next election, but I think in the near future, because step by step we have realized that this issue of homosexuality has the same adverse and progressive elements as when we dealt with the race issue.'




Carter served one term as commander-in-chief and then lost his bid for re-election to Ronald Reagan in 1980.

He went on, 'I would say that the country is getting acclimated to a president who might be female, who might, obviously, now, be black, and who might be as well a gay person.'

President Obama is the first black president.

Former Bill Clinton adviser and interviewer James Carville then wondered, 'How do we know we haven't had one?'

America has had one bachelor president, James Buchanan, from 1857-61.

American Held in North Korea Returns.Mother of Nkorea Prisoner Thankful for Release.NKorea Frees American Imprisoned Since January

North Korea tells Carter wants to resume nuclear talks

North Korea’s number two leader has told former President Jimmy Carter that the reclusive state is committed to denuclearizing the peninsula and resuming six-way talks, the North’s state news agency said today.

Carter left the North today morning, KCNA said. The Carter Center in a statement from the former president said that he was leaving Pyongyang with an American who had been convicted of illegally entering the country.

“Kim Yong Nam expressed the will of the DPRK government for the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and the resumption of the six-party talks,” KCNA said, referring to the meeting of the North’s number two with Carter.

Carter’s visit took place amid heightened tensions on the peninsula after the torpedoing in March of a South Korean warship, which Seoul blames on the North and which prompted Washington to announce expanded sanctions against Pyongyang.

Shortly after Carter arrived in Pyongyang, the North’s reclusive leader, Kim Jong-il, left for ally China on a surprise trip that analysts believe may be to line up Beijing behind his dynastic succession plans.

Carter was leaving Pyongyang with Aijalon Mahli Gomes, who was arrested in January and sentenced to eight years of hard labour. KCNA said last month that he had tried to commit suicide.

U.S. citizen freed from North Korean jail after former President Jimmy Carter flies to Pyongyang to negotiate release

Protest: Aijalon Gomes is pictured in January near the disputed border between North and South Korea during a peace rally, days before his trespass offence and subsequent imprisonment

An American citizen was free today after spending almost seven months in a North Korean prison thanks to the intervention of former U.S. President Jimmy Carter.

Aijalon Gomes, 31, had been sentenced to eight years' hard labour for trespassing and committing a 'hostile act' in the isolated dictatorship.

But former President Carter personally intervened, flying to North Korea's capital Pyongyang to negotiate with representatives of the state's reclusive leader Kim Jong Il.

Gomes - who is believed to have entered North Korea in support of another jailed American citizen - was pardoned by the 'supreme leader'.







Fortunate: An emotional Gomes meets with former President Carter as they prepare to board a flight to Boston

Reclusive: North Korean leader Kim Jong Ill did not meet with former President Carter but did grant a pardon

Fortunate: An emotional Gomes meets with former President Carter as they prepare to board a flight to Boston

Gomes was pictured hugging former President Carter at the city's airport last night and was due to fly into Boston today for a reunion with relatives.

In Washington, the State Department welcomed the news of Gomes' release.

'We are relieved that he will soon be safely reunited with his family," State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said.

'We appreciate former President Carter's humanitarian effort and welcome North Korea's decision to grant Mr. Gomes special amnesty and allow him to return to the United States.'
North Korea's state-run Korean Central News Agency said Carter's visit included cordial talks with North Korea's second-highest official, Kim Yong Nam.

Kim relayed Pyongyang's interest in resuming the six-nation disarmament talks and reiterated the regime's commitment to denuclearisation, KCNA said.

However, there was no indication that Carter met with Kim Jong Il, who was making a surprise trip to China during the rare visit by an American dignitary to the North Korean capital.

A year ago, Kim sat down for talks and a well-publicized photo with former U.S. President Bill Clinton when he went to Pyongyang on a similar journey to negotiate the release of two American journalists.
The U.S. and North Korea fought on opposite sides of the 1950-53 Korean War and do not have diplomatic relations, but Carter is well-regarded in North Korea after making a ground-breaking trip to Pyongyang in 1994 to meet with Kim's father, late President Kim Il Sung.

Those friendly talks led to a landmark nuclear disarmament pact.

Aijalon Gomes was the fourth American arrested in North Korea for illegal entry in a year when he was seized in January, accused of crossing into North Korea from China.

Besides journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee, also sentenced to hard labor and released last August on a special pardon, activist Robert Park deliberately crossed into the country last Christmas and was expelled by North Korean authorities about 40 days later.

Gomes' motive was not clear but he was said to be a close friend of Park and was photographed in Seoul rallying for Park's release just two weeks before his own arrest in North Korea.

In April, North Korean authorities sentenced Gomes to eight years of hard labour and fined 70 million won - more than £380,000 - for trespassing and committing a 'hostile act.' Gomes 'admitted all the facts,' state-run media said.

Last month, North Korean media reported that Gomes tried to kill himself, 'driven by his strong guilty conscience, disappointment and despair at the U.S. government that has not taken any measure for his freedom,' and was hospitalised.
A U.S. delegation, including a consular official, two doctors and a translator, made a secret visit to Pyongyang earlier this month to try to secure Gomes' release.

The group visited Gomes at the hospital but were unable to negotiate his release then, State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said last week.

Tall and muscular when he appeared at anti-North Korean rallies in Seoul in January, Gomes looked markedly thinner Friday. He was dressed in a white striped polo shirt and dark slacks, TV footage showed.

'The measure taken ... to set free the illegal entrant is a manifestation of (North Korea's) humanitarianism and peace-loving policy," KCNA said.

The Carter Center and U.S. officials have emphasised that the ex-president's trip was a private humanitarian mission.

However, such visits have in the past provided an opportunity for unofficial diplomacy.
KCNA said the Americans held 'an open-hearted discussion' with North Korea's foreign minister and vice foreign minister for U.S. affairs on their countries' relations as well as nuclear disarmament.

Six-nation nuclear disarmament talks have been stalled since North Korea walked away from the table last year.

Carter in North Korea to free US prisoner

Former US President Jimmy Carter arrived in North Korea today to try to win the release of an American jailed for illegally entering the reclusive state, media reports said.

The visit comes amid heightened tensions on the peninsula after the torpedoing in March of a South Korean warship, which Seoul blames on the North and which prompted Washington to announce expanded sanctions against Pyongyang.

North Korea’s KCNA news agency said Carter and his group arrived in Pyongyang and was met at the airport by Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye-gwan, who represents Pyongyang at six-way nuclear disarmament talks that had been on hold for two years.

Carter, 85, and his wife flew in a private jet and not a US military plane, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency said earlier, quoting a US diplomatic source.

A US official said on Tuesday that Carter would travel to the North on a private humanitarian mission to secure the release of Aijalon Mahli Gomes, who has been sentenced by the North to eight years hard labour.

Gomes (picture), 30, tried to commit suicide out of despair, the North’s state media said last month.

Gomes, who KCNA said was from Boston, crossed into the North in January carrying a letter calling on leader Kim Jong-il to repent his sins and step down, a South Korean religious activist who had met him has said.

Gomes had been teaching English in Seoul for about two years before making the trip to North Korea. He was also active in Protestant churches, his colleagues said.

Former President Bill Clinton made a similar humanitarian trip last year, winning the release of two journalists also jailed for illegally entering the North.

Clinton’s trip was followed by dialogue between Pyongyang and Washington marking an end to a series of provocations by the North and briefly easing tensions in the region.

South Korean media have reported the North wants Washington to send an envoy to discuss improving ties, including the resumption of stalled six-party nuclear disarmament talks.

Both Washington and Seoul have said Pyongyang must first admit responsibility for the sinking of the warship before they will consider returning to the talks.

Carter roils lawmakers by calling Obama critics racist

President Obama and Ex President Jimmy Carter. Carter accuse racism are basic reason for intensity objections obama received.




Former President Jimmy Carter fueled a renewed political furor over race by saying Rep Joe Wilson's outburst during President Barack Obama's speech last week was "based on racism."

The former president's remarks drew a rebuke Wednesday from Michael Steele, chairman of the Republican National Committee, who called accusations of racism "an outrage."

The White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Wednesday, "The president does not believe that the criticism comes based on the color of his skin."

Mr. Obama has sought during his presidential campaign and much of his first months in office to downplay racial divisions. But Mr. Wilson's shout of "You lie," during Mr. Obama's speech on health care, and the reaction to that event, have brought sensitive issues of race back to the surface.

Mr. Carter made his remarks about Rep. Wilson's interruption in response to a question at a town-hall meeting in Atlanta on Tuesday. "There is an inherent feeling among many people in this country that an African-American ought not to be president, and ought not to be given the same respect as if he were white," Mr. Carter said.

"I think an overwhelming portion of the intensely demonstrated animosity toward President Barack Obama is based on the fact that he is a black man," Carter told NBC News.

He said this "racism inclination still exists. And I think it's bubbled up to the surface because of the belief among many white people, not just in the South but around the country, that African-Americans are not qualified to lead this great country. It's an abominable circumstance, and it grieves me and concerns me very deeply."

Mr. Steele, who is African-American, replied on Wednesday. "Characterizing Americans' disapproval of President Obama's policies as being based on race is an outrage and a troubling sign about the lengths Democrats will go to disparage all who disagree with them," Mr. Steele said."President Carter is flat out wrong. This isn't about race. It is about policy," he said in a statement. "This is a pathetic distraction by Democrats to shift attention away from the president's wildly unpopular government-run healthcare plan that the American people simply oppose."

The furor didn't prompt Mr. Carter to back down. He reiterated his argument in a talk Wednesday night at Emory University, citing various attacks on Mr. Obama, though not Mr. Wilson's comment.

Mr. Wilson couldn't be reached Wednesday. On the Washington Times'"America's Morning News" radio program Wednesday, Mr. Wilson said, "That is such a distraction and a diversion from the issues that we should be discussing."

Previous Controversial.

Obama, America's first black president, was steering clear of the issue, weeks after he injected himself into a debate about race in Massachusetts after black Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates was arrested at his own home on suspicion of breaking into it.

After Obama created an uproar by saying that Cambridge, Massachusetts, police had acted stupidly in the case, he later expressed regret for the tone of his remarks and had the professor and police officer to the White House for a beer in what was dubbed a "beer summit."

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said the uproar among Obama's opponents was more likely a reaction to some of the decisions Obama had made to help the U.S. economy, such as bank and auto bailouts.

"We understand that people have disagreements with some of the decisions that we've made," he said.

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President Jimmy Carter tells Brian Williams that the Hatred against President Obama is Racism. Keith talks about the racist overtones by the republicans and their followers. The signs are out there. We have all seen them.
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