Wild West Politics?

[tw]

Originally Posted by glatt

I think he was despised by Republicans because he was a Democrat.

Its all about the economy stupid. Clinton was spot on. Carter did something that would hurt everyone in the short term, be necessary for the long term, and would cost him the office. He (and Volker) pushed interest rates to above 20%. We literally had to punish all Americans in 1978 so pay for what Nixon did in 1968 and 1970. Ford, at first, wanted to do it. But backed down - not enough backbone. Carter did it. It so hurt all Americans (and was absolutely necessary) that lesser event such as an energy crisis, a failed rescue attempt, decreasing quality in American products as engineers were no longer doing the designing, no jobs, etc were then also blamed on Carter.