There are those who think that it might be a good idea if Obama wins the election. Then in 4 short years Americans will be craving a true conservative. To those people I say just two words.. Jimmy Carter.  Some of the most difficult challenges we face today can be traced directly back to the Carter administration.

I was born in October of 1960, which means the presidents of my lifetime cover the end of the Eisenhower administration to the current presidency of George W. Bush. I have had the thought that Jimmy Carter was the worst president of my lifetime. I never realized how bad of a time it was.

My opinion of the Carter administration started with his inauguration when he wanted to be sworn in as Jimmy Carter and not James Earl Carter. It wasn't that it sounded like a "hick", it's more that I thought it was too casual for an office as important as President of the United States.  Dog catcher maybe, president, no way.

There were many other reasons to think the Carter era was the worst of my lifetime. How about gas shortages causing long lines. Mortgage rates at 17% interest. For those of you too young to remember let me repeat that.. MORTGAGE rates at 17% not credit cards but home mortgages. Lets also not forget the term "stagflation".  A term that was a combination of a stagnant growth & high inflation. The inflation rate was, at its peak, 13.5% while unemployment was 7%.  Another term created at that time was the "misery index". The misery index was defined as:  The misery index is the sum of the inflation rate and unemployment rate for a given year. The income tax rate went up to 70% for the highest rate. Fortunately his administration only lasted four years.

This brings us to the point of the lasting effect four short years can have. During the Carter years we suffered humiliating international defeat which ended up having far reaching consequences.  The Soviet Union realized the weakness and decided to invade Afghanistan. What was Carter's response, boycott the Olympics.  Carter failed to support the Shah of Iran, who was a staunch supporter of the U.S. This allowed the Ayatollah to take over power giving birth to fundamental Islamic radicalism (long range effect, see Sept 11, 2001).  The FISA courts were instituted which tied the hands of our intelligence community from monitoring communications overseas (see again Sept. 11, 2001 again).

The current home mortgage and economic meltdown can also be traced directly back to the Carter administration. The Community Reinvestment Act (CRA), enacted by Congress in 1977 was the foundation for the current crisis. The CRA was intended to encourage financial institutions to help people in their communities obtain a home and to reduce discrimination and "relining".  In 1993 President Clinton asked regulators to the paperwork required.  ACORN then lobbied for even further relaxed loan requirements, even threatening financial institutions with legal actions if loans were not awarded. (It didn't matter if the borrower could pay it back).  A funny thing happend on the way to the lawsuits, one of the ACORN attorneys was a young Barack Obama. Unfortunately it doesn't end there.

Under the heading of "It's a small world"....  Financial institutions accross the country were getting stuck with bad loans. So they decided to sell the loans to investment houses. The loans eventually landed in the lapps of Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac.  Once there the accountants made it look as though these bad loans were actually a good thing. This allowed the chairman of Fannie Mae, Frank Raines, to walk away with $90 million.  Ironically Fannie Mae has contributed over $100,000 to Barack Obama's campaign and Mr. Raines is one of his economic advisors.

So I ask you, how much damage can one short four year term can cause?  Generations worth.