History will see Carter as one of America's worst Presidents. Iran, terrorism, the Panama Canal, Samoza, Ortega, Nicaragua, oil, sovereignty, inflation, unemployment, the Olympics, the USSR....any subject you pick, he did it wrong. His term in office was one crisis after another. It took Ronald Reagan to straighten up Carter's mess.
"It took Ronald Reagan to straighten up Carter's mess."
I will tell you a brief story of the Zeitgeist, how real it really is. I was only 22 when Reagan got in the first time, I think I may have even voted for Carter, I don't think I voted the next time. I was working at Macy's and I remember walking out from work, it was right before the election. A very dreary fall day in NYC on 34th Street, which is always filthy, to this very day it is filthy there. And the hostages were still being held, the economy was in the toilet, inflation was out of control. And I had an awful feeling, I felt bad, ashamed, to be an American. It was just a fleeting thing, but it was so sharp, as I headed down into the subway to go home.
Had I been more poltically aware, had I been, say, Carl Rove!, I would have realized that Reagan was going to sweep into office, new broom in hand.
I was never a liberal, don't misunderstand, I thought Carter was a good Christian man, and I was young enough so that I didn't even associate my feelings at that moment with Carter v. Reagan. But I will never forget that awful feeling, certainly one I've never had before or since. And this is now, Kerry will certainly be Carter Redux. I hope there are others like me who had that Zeitgeist moment and who realize, we are not changing over to THAT weak horse in the middle of THIS stream.