Tales of Miss Lillian

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W

Jimmy Carter has a new book out. Nothing newsworthy about that for the former president seems to grind out two or three a year.

Of the 20 books he has written since leaving the White House, some are readable and some are cumbersome. The twenty-first is one I've anticipated. It has nothing to do with the Hamas, offers no advice to presidents current or future and includes no tips on how to build a Habitat

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Jimmy Carter has a new book out. Nothing newsworthy about that, for the former president seems to grind out two or three a year.

Of the 20 books he has written since leaving the White House, some are readable and some are cumbersome. The twenty-first is one I've anticipated. It has nothing to do with Hamas, offers no advice to presidents current or future and includes no tips on how to build a Habitat house.

This one is about his mama.

It's about time, for Lillian Carter lived up to the title of her son's book: "A Remarkable Mother" (Simon & Schuster, $22.95).

In the campaign for president, we know about Obama's pastor, Hillary's husband and McCain's military service. When Jimmy Carter was a candidate in 1976, his quirky family hogged the spotlight.

Just last week, Billy's filling station in Plains reopened as a museum to beer, cheap gas and tall tales. He started off as the darling of a press corps that shamefully let him turn himself into a wisecracking Jethro Bodine.

But the Carter that tourists came to see was Miss Lillian. Jimmy's handlers vetted every syllable he spoke. Not his mama. If she thought it, she said it. She didn't care if she were talking to a network anchor, a political big shot or a tourist from Sioux City.

To his credit, that is the woman Jimmy Carter has written about. Without allowing the bias of her only surviving child to take over, he reintroduces a woman that any of the current candidates would love to cast as their mother.

This is the woman who said she never got into a car or buggy with a young man until she was 21. "I always had a chaperone. I learned everything I know from that chaperone."

This is the mother-in-law who warned Billy's bride, Sybil, that she had reared strong-willed children. "Don't ever back down or give in to them, and don't ever go to bed without resolving your differences. And don't ever bring me half a cup of cold coffee. It has to be full, hot and black."

This is the TV talk show guest who, when Johnny Carson mentioned her son's drop in the opinion polls, said, "Johnny, I noticed lately that your ratings have dropped more than Jimmy's."

This is the woman who, after meeting Pope Paul, told a reporter, "If I had my life to live over again, I'd be a Catholic. I'm a Baptist, and they don't believe in having a drink late in the afternoon or playing poker -- things I love to do."

Hers was a family that was on "Hee-Haw," rode Harleys and healed pornographers. There also was a president.

But Lillian Carter wasn't created. She was real. Son Jimmy writes: "Every community knew these matriarchs, who were envied and sometimes despised because of their eccentricities, but always respected. It seems to me that the South has a tradition of accommodating eccentrics, as long as they are self-confident, strong enough or immune to social ostracism."

That would be Miss Lillian.

Contact Richard Hyatt at rhyatt@ledger-enquirer.com