You're also missing my point:
Good idea, bad idea, good negotiator, bad negotiator, at least he's done something different to at least TRY to break the impasse, which is a HELL of a lot more than I can say for the current policy of black-and-white exclusion, which so far has only succeeded in perpetuating the stalemate.
Maybe Carter's the wrong guy to have do it, but it may not necessarily be the wrong IDEA.