Jimmy Carter: Difference between revisions

Considering that it happened more{{Years thanor thirty yearsmonths ago|1981}}, a look around the Internet will astonish many readers with just how firmly '''James Earl "Jimmy" Carter''''s presidency remains in [[Your Mileage May Vary]] territory. Conservatives declare that his watch was a mess, while liberals assert that he ''[[Misblamed|inherited]]'' [[Misblamed|a mess]] ([[Barack Obama|Why does that sound familiar?]]): the huge [[Vietnam War]] deficit, an economy that for the first time ''ever'' suffered rampant inflation ''while stagnating'', and a national post-Vietnam, post-Watergate funk which was described as a "malaise" -- a word that is hung around his neck by conservative commentators (and ''[[The Simpsons]]'') to this day, though Carter himself [[Beam Me Up, Scotty|never actually used it]]. "Stagflation" was exacerbated by the 1979 oil crisis; long gas lines and high energy costs contributed to the national unhappiness. In an attempt to lead by example, the President lowered the thermostats in the White House and donned sweaters to keep warm instead -- which became for many a hated symbol of the lifestyle sacrifices which they believed his policies had made necessary.