Second Acts

Contrary to F. Scott Fitzgerald's famous assertion — "there are no second acts in American lives" — two prominent Americans in the autumn of their years are experiencing luminous encores. Their public lives have been lived at the opposite ends of the political spectrum. One is a folksy Georgian Democrat; the other, a slick Texas Republican. Together they may end up doing permanent harm to American foreign policy.

It is perhaps one of those strange yet significant accidents of fate that both James Baker III, a secretary of state under President George H.W. Bush, and Jimmy Carter, the 39th president, emerged from the sidelines to put their final imprints on foreign policy this autumn. Mr. Baker appeared first, the author of a political memoir, "Work Hard and Study … and Keep Out of Politics," released in October by G.P. Putnam's Sons. The book chronicles Mr. Baker's transformation from a corporate lawyer in Houston to a much sought out elder statesman. Near the end of the plucky narrative, he recounts a 2005 dinner attended by Ehud Olmert, Condoleezza Rice, and Ariel Sharon. Mr. Baker includes in his account a joke at the expense of Mr. Sharon. "‘Tell the prime minister,' I joked to Ehud, ‘that this is the only time I've ever come to Israel and he has not announced the creation of a new settlement.'"

But Mr. Baker, too much of a behind-the-scenes player to really be a good storyteller, left his best writing for another work published in the category of nonfiction, "The Iraq Study Group Report: The Way Forward — A New Approach." Mr. Baker's report takes it as a matter of faith that the way to prevent one branch of Muslims from killing another branch of Muslims in a country that does not border Israel is for Israel to make concessions to its Arab enemies. "The United States will not be able to achieve its goals in the Middle East unless the United States deals directly with the Arab-Israeli conflict," the report asserts. Finally, it recommends, "sustainable negotiations leading to a final peace settlement … would address the key final status issues of borders, settlements, Jerusalem, the right of return, and the end of the conflict." One would have expected there to be a salutary value to the inclusion of Justice O'Connor on Mr. Baker's bipartisan panel. Even a first-year law student would recognize the inclusion of such language as "dicta" — extraneous to the real question at hand.

Not to be outdone by Mr. Baker, President Carter has appeared on the scene with a book, "Palestine Peace Not Apartheid," published by Simon & Schuster and already reviewed by Alan Dershowitz in the pages of this newspaper. Following publication, Mr. Carter took to the airwaves to promote his outrageous screed. He appeared with Timothy Russert on NBC's "Meet the Press" on December 3. When Mr. Russert asked Mr. Carter if he was suggesting that the "Israeli lobby" was preventing the discussion of the issues raised in his book, the former president replied, "that's part. The Jewish lobby may be part of it … I think there's a reticence, even in public fora, to describe both sides of the issues in the West Bank." Mr. Baker trod into similarly injudicious territory some 14 years previous. According to Mayor Koch, Mr. Baker said, "F—— the Jews. They didn't vote for us anyway." Mr. Baker has denied having said that.

Mr. Carter's comments prompted Gary Bauer, a former presidential candidate and president of American Values, a nonprofit group, to say that the former president had veered far from the theology of their common Southern Baptist faith. Mr. Bauer told me the following: "From a theological standpoint, I think he must be embracing replacement theology. [The idea that] when God says ‘Israel I will bless,' he's really saying ‘the Church I will bless.' Theology aside, it's hard to distinguish his views on Israel from garden variety anti-Semitism."

It would be easy and reassuring to look at the golden years of Mr. Baker, 76, and Mr. Carter, 82, and dismiss their influence. After all, more than three decades have passed since Mr. Baker accompanied President Ford to Philadelphia for a debate against Mr. Carter. But the Iraq Study Group's report will serve as a counterpoint to President Bush's policy in today's newspapers and for posterity. The links to it will remain on the Internet for all to download now and well into the future. It will help provide a permanent plank in talking points lending legitimacy to those who suggest Israel must deal with, for instance, a Palestinian right of return which would ultimately end the existence of Israel as we know it.

As for Mr. Carter, how, exactly, does one counteract the actions of an ex-president? The lay person, the average American, the moderately informed member of the general public — all will see Mr. Carter's book equating South Africa and Israel on the best-seller shelf of the local Borders or Barnes & Noble and read the title. They can't be expected to search out the critical reviews or discover the errors in fact and judgment present therein. Even the well-meaning supporter of Israel may be demoralized to find a former president, a 2002 recipient of the Nobel Prize, taking such a hard line against that land.

Mr. Baker served two of Mr. Carter's opponents, but now at the sunset of their political lives, their political advocacy has intersected. Their work will become part of the permanent DNA on the discussion surrounding the Middle East. Together they will provide two pillars of anti-Israel animus long after they themselves are gone.

It is almost difficult to imagine how Mr. Baker has refashioned his political image. Only a half-decade ago, it was common to read about Mr. Baker's ties to the oil industry and the Saudi ruling family. In Mr. Baker's book, he writes,"another financial opportunity was the Carlyle Group, now one of the world's largest private equity firms." The company, he goes on to explain, "raises money from what it calls ‘high net worth individuals' (in plainer English, very wealthy people) and from private institutional investors, including large pension funds." Mr. Baker does not cite a prime supporter of the Carlyle Group. Craig Unger, author of "House of Saud," wrote in Slate in 2004 that Mr. Baker "traveled to Saudi Arabia repeatedly for the Carlyle Group to woo Saudi investors and win contracts." That history hasn't stopped the Prius crowd from admiring Mr. Baker's findings.

Messrs. Baker and Carter have constructed their two pillars of anti-Israel animus. It's yet to be seen what kind of structure others will build on their foundation. Their joint comeback is one we would have been better off without.

Mr. Gitell (www.gitell.com) is a contributing editor of The New York Sun.