Jimmy Carter on Whether He Could Be President Today: "Absolutely Not"

Nearly 40 years have passed since Jimmy Carter, a onetime peanut farmer from a rural town in Georgia, was elected as president of the United States. Would President Carter want to hold the highest office in today's climate? If he did, could he get elected?

"Absolutely not," he tells Oprah. "There's no way now for you to get the Democratic or Republican nomination without being able to raise two or three hundred million dollars, or more, and I would not be inclined to do that. And I would not be capable of doing it.

"We've become now an oligarchy instead of a democracy. And I think that's been the worst damage to the basic moral and ethical standards of the American political system that I've ever seen in my life."

Watch as President Carter shares his perspective on how fundraising and political polarization has changed Washington for the worse since his days in office.