When Carter passes, I think we'll really learn the extent of his unflagging commitment to his country. I suspect some of the things he's done on behalf of past administrations (both Republican and Democratic) are kept quiet at his own request.

Some of you may not remember, but he took a serious personal hit to his public persona when he volunteered to act as an intermediary during the Middle East hostage crises in Beirut (when Terry Watts was a hostage for many years). He met with both Syrian & Hezbollah leaders and, basically, humbled himself before them and talked smack about the U.S. to gain their release. He knew going in that a large segment of the U.S. population would hate him for that and call him a traitor. They did. The media and news would lambast him almost daily. He didn't care. It wasn't about how people thought of him and his legacy, it was about getting those people back home.

He did it again during the hostage crisis with North Korea, and again shit was heaped on him by American's upset that he was willing to talk to them in the capacity of an ex-President.

The man is humble and he puts the mission first, his legacy be damned. I think that was his strong religious upbringing and his military service at play in how he put himself out there like that.

I think, one day, we'll completely learn what a tremendous and unselfish public servant he was, long after his formal role as Commander In Chief was ended.