Life Better Under Jimmy Carter?

I was just beginning to enjoy my Introduction to English Literature course when my professor had to come out in the middle of this morning’s class and state in a side remark that life in America was better under President Jimmy Carter. I have no clue whether he was simply joking (I hope to God he was because I thought of him as a much smarter man then that) or he was being serious, but it did give quite a laugh so early in the day. Yes, life in the United States was so superior under a president whose best solution to an international crisis which would set the stage for the rise of al Qaeda, Osama Bin Ladin, and September 11th was to boycott the summer Olympics. Brilliant! This does not however ruin the course entirely for me but it does downgrade the respect I had for my English professor, if only a bit.