President Jimmy Carter, dead at age 100, lived long enough to glimpse history’s verdict upon him. It was not as bad as the universally applied “failed presidency” when he lost to Ronald Reagan in 1980, and it universally praised him as a good man doing good works as the “best ex-president” ever.

The 2002 Nobel Peace Prize cemented the latter designation, though the prestige of the prize diminished when it was later awarded to Al Gore (2007) and Barack Obama (2009). Three Democrat presidential candidates in seven years seemed a touch partisan.