1976 election...

[Beet]

Carter gets a lot of crap for the 1979 oil crisis which was not his fault and which Reaganomics would not have been able to cure. But he was the first president to take U.S. monetary & energy policy in the right direction. First, by lifting wage and price controls, thus penalizing energy inefficiency and beginning the reduction of our economy's dependence on oil. Second, by appointing Paul Volcker as chairman of the Federal reserve and sacrificing his own popularity in an election year to induce a recession in order to bring down inflation. It worked-- although a mild recession was induced in 1980 seriously damaging Carter's popularity, inflation came down for the first time since the Iranian government started to destabilize and continued to decline for the next 8 years.

[Beet]

Another big issue was the Egyptian-Israeli peace accord which Carter helped to broker. Don't try to say the US had no role in it because to this day Egypt is the second-highest recipient of US aid in exchange for their peace. And Sadat wasn't going to abandon the Soviets unless he could be assured of US support.

The previous Arab-Israeli wars (1948, 1956, 1967, 1973) generated, respectively, the first Palestinian refugees/divided Jersualem, the Suez canal crisis, the rise of Islamic extremism, and the Arab oil embargo. All disasters that we are still feeling today. God knows what a Fifth Arab-Israeli war involving Egypt and Israel would have resulted in.

[Beet]

Also, Carter freed all the hostages in the end. Sure it "looked bad" for the US image, but it was US image vs. the lives of US citizens, and Carter made the right choice. In the long run countries respect powers who respect the lives of their own citizens.

[Beet]

That said, Carter could have been a much better president than he was, he certainly was lacking as a leader in many ways. He just gets a lot more flak that he deserves based on what he really did in the long run.

[afcassidy]

Probably Ford, but maybe McCarthy as a joke.

[dazzleman]

Carter gets a lot of crap for the 1979 oil crisis which was not his fault and which Reaganomics would not have been able to cure. But he was the first president to take U.S. monetary & energy policy in the right direction. First, by lifting wage and price controls, thus penalizing energy inefficiency and beginning the reduction of our economy's dependence on oil. Second, by appointing Paul Volcker as chairman of the Federal reserve and sacrificing his own popularity in an election year to induce a recession in order to bring down inflation. It worked-- although a mild recession was induced in 1980 seriously damaging Carter's popularity, inflation came down for the first time since the Iranian government started to destabilize and continued to decline for the next 8 years.

You make some good points about Carter pointing hte economyin a more conservative direction.

Specifically, wage and price controls were imposed by Nixon in 1971 and lifted in phases which were completed in 1974.  Nixon also imposed controls on the price of domestic oil, which Carter declined to lift, but which were lifted by Reagan in 1981.

It was not really the mild 1980 recession that broke the back of inflation, but the much more severe 1981-82 recession.  And it was the Carter-appointed Volcker who was largely responsible for that, so Carter does deserve credit for appointing him.

[dazzleman]

Another big issue was the Egyptian-Israeli peace accord which Carter helped to broker. Don't try to say the US had no role in it because to this day Egypt is the second-highest recipient of US aid in exchange for their peace. And Sadat wasn't going to abandon the Soviets unless he could be assured of US support.

The previous Arab-Israeli wars (1948, 1956, 1967, 1973) generated, respectively, the first Palestinian refugees/divided Jersualem, the Suez canal crisis, the rise of Islamic extremism, and the Arab oil embargo. All disasters that we are still feeling today. God knows what a Fifth Arab-Israeli war involving Egypt and Israel would have resulted in.

You're right here too.  Carter's brokering of the Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty was probably his best accomplishment as president.  It could not have happened without the magnanimity of Anwar Sadat, who had a willingness unseen in today's leaders in the middle east to cut through the trenches of past divisions.  But Carter played a big role in facilitating the treaty and deserves credit for it.

[dazzleman]

Also, Carter freed all the hostages in the end. Sure it "looked bad" for the US image, but it was US image vs. the lives of US citizens, and Carter made the right choice. In the long run countries respect powers who respect the lives of their own citizens.

Here, I disagree with you.

The Iranian Hostage Crisis was the first real act of state-sponsored terrorism.  It is really the point at which the war by fundamentalist Islam against the west began.

I believe that a stronger response by Carter might have saved many lives in the 25 years since the hostage crisis, even if it cost lives at the time.  Carter's problem was that he had no strategic vision; no sense that this was about something beyond the hostages.

We dealt poorly with the terrorist issue under succeeding administrations, including Reagan, HW Bush and particularly Clinton.  But it was really Carter who let the genie out of the bottle, so to speak, with his flaccid handling of the Iranian crisis.  And the Iranian regime remains a dangerous enemy and threat to world peace to this day.

[PBrunsel]

I would vote for Roger MacBride. Ford and Carter are nice guys, but I would never vote for either.

[Ats]

Carter

[Dr. Cynic]

Carter with no hindsight.

[Reignman]

The only thing Ford really did was veto just about everything Congress passed.  He didn't even campaign for the presidency.

[ncjake]

Ford/Mondale

[King]

Ford or Reagan Write-in...I do not like Carter as a President...as a person he is a good guy...

[jehobden]

I actually did vote for Ford in a sixth-grade mock election. Ford won in my school, but unfortunately not in the country.  I do agree though that w/o Carter's election, Reagan may never have been elected.

[Bono]

Welcome!
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I don't think I'd vote for either, probabily those Libertarian guys.
Neither Carter nor ford were that good or convincing.

[Ronald Reagan]

Ford

[goldwatermiller]

Ford, but my Grandfather who was and is a diehard Republican admits that Carter was the only Democrat he voted for.  He thought Carter was a "different kind" of Democrat.  LOL.
Of course, who knew.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

With retrospect or not? If not, definitely Carter. With, probably not Carter...but I'm not too sure about Fird either...since Carter means we get Reagan quickly enough, I'm not sure whether it evens out or not.

Gustaf,

I would sacrifice Reagan to not have Carter. When that man was President, it was like the Dark Ages in the United States. Everything, and I do mean EVERYTHING, went wrong on the domestic and international front. With a few more Presidents like Carter, the United States would have ended up about as powerful as Canada on the international scene, and the economy would be...well...we'd have unemployment like your basic Western European (France/Germany) nation and inflation like your basic Latin American country.

Especially those 10.3 million jobs. Those destroyed America.

[Bugs]

I voted for Carter in 1976, partly because he seemed honest and partly because I distrusted anyone associated with Nixon.  My own understanding of politics and government was limited at the time.  I didn't know where I stood politically.  Although I selected Ford in this thread, it's not a clear choice.  he's no favorite of mine.  Carter isn't either.  Although he deserves credit for the Egypt-Israel peace assords, I suspect that Nixon, Ford, Reagan, Bush or even Mondale could have pulled it off because Sadat was ready.  I also don't consider it a given that a Ford victory eliminates Reagan.  Ford couldn't have run in 1980, so the race would have been as wide open as it really was.  The only difference would be an incumbant Dole as VP.  Reagan could still win the nomnation.  1980 would, however, have been his last chance if he had lost.  

[emergingDmajority1]

It should be noted that Ford almost completed one of the greatest comebacks in political history. Carter nearly blew a 30+ point lead, really his presidency got off on the wrong foot before he even became president.