Well said. One could also point out that Carter's election was somewhat of an anomaly: a clear reaction to revulsion over Watergate and other government scandals of the mid-1970s - which had been incubating for decades. Plus, he was a New South liberal from the Deep South, which was good for one electoral dance with conservative States such as Mississippi and South Carolina, but not really any further than that. An intelligent and decent man, but with shockingly few political skills in dealing with a Congress controlled by his own party. He also had to deal with certain problems beyond this country's power to determine the outcome, but lacked the political charisma to get the country behind his proposals to solve the ones that WERE within our power to resolve. Still, what he turned over in 1981 to his successor looks like awfully small potatoes compared to what the current President inherited in 2009.