So the moral of the story is that PRINCIPLES MATTER!
Sometimes we get unprincipled people w/exec. experience like Carter and Clinton, and sometimes we get PRINCIPLED people w/exec. experience like RONALD REAGAN.
Sometimes we get wonderful people without exec. experience like Abe Lincoln.
Bottom line: PRINCIPLES MATTER and so does the PASSION for the things I stand for like God and the Constitution.
Our Founders loved God, too, and PRAYED before writing the Constitution. I believe that is why our Constitution is so BRILLIANT.
I'm too young to know enough details about Ike. But the guy had a mistress and I don't think he ran on anything more than he would do what's best for America. My limited knowledge of 1950s history is that Ike did such a good job that Nixon was considered a shoe-in for President and probably would have been if not for his poor visual performance in the debates.
Reagan was divorced which was still considered a slight on his moral standing. He was also a Hollywood actor and had all the baggage associated with that. Reagan was probably our only principled President of the 20th century. In terms of the right principles being applied to the executive branch of the country.
A guy like Reagan comes around once in a lifetime and even with Reagan most people didn't know how principled he was until he got into office and then, certainly after he left, he was sorely missed.
But an important point about President Reagan is that he was an extremely successful person before he ever stepped into the political arena. Successful for a long time before he transitioned into politics. He also wasn't a lawyer. He personally knew how unproductive our tax system was and he reached across the aisle and got Senator Bill Bradley to do most of the heavy lifting on the tax reform bill.