He was elected after the public was sick of the republicans and watergate then Ford's pardon. He campaigned as a washington outsider who represented a change from the same old same old. The problem was that he actually was an outsider and couldn't control his own party. They ran right around him and the economy went down the tubes. Government works best when it is split; like Clinton with republican congress or Reagan with a democratic congress. But whenever it has been only one party in control it was never good. Like Gw Bush and republicans or jimmy Carter and democrats.