"If Carter had been there when the AIDS crisis came up, it would have been a whole different story. It could have been treated like a legitimate disease"

In this quote, Jean O'Leary is suggesting that if previous United States President Jimmy Carter had actually been in workplace during the AIDS crisis, the response to the illness would have been significantly different. O'Leary thinks that Carter would have treated AIDS as a genuine illness, rather than the stigmatized and misconstrued disease it was frequently seen as during the 1980s. This could have caused a more caring and reliable approach to dealing with the crisis, possibly conserving numerous lives. O'Leary's declaration highlights the importance of leadership and the impact it can have on how society responds to significant health problems.