RE: The '80 Campaign...

You and Jimmy Carter have something in common: Both of you are Navy vets who served on board a submarine.

We need to be really clear on this. I served on a deep submersible and spent nearly two years actually on (and under) the water. After that, I served on a ballistic missile submarine and made strategic deterrent patrols as well as two separate nuclear weapons shake-downs and a NATO war-games operation. Jimmy carter made a training run on one diesel boat, qualified for command in the shipyard, and trained nuclear operators on-shore for the rest of his career. We have almost nothing in common.

It was actually Ted Kennedy who came up with the term "national malaise." Of course, when Kennedy came up with that term, he was running again Carter for the '80 Democrat nomination.

I think your source is mistaken. I remember Carter giving the "national malaise" speech. It may have been during the campaign and he might even have stolen it from Kennedy, but he was the one who tried to blame his failures on it. He was the one using it for an excuse for why the economy stayed so stubbornly pathetic and why we had lost the respect of most of the free world during his watch.

Carter and his team were thrilled when Reagan won the '80 GOP nomination because they thought he would suffer the same fate as Goldwater did in '64.

I remember the pundits casting that spin. As far as I know, no one bought it but Carter and his people. It was a singular attribute of the Carter Administration that they seemed to be the only people who believed their own BS.

I don't see Hillary winning the presidency in '08. To be honest, I really don't see her being the Democrat nominee.

I thought the same thing a while ago. I am no longer quite so sure. She has one helluva machine and it has started to grind into action. The alignment of forces that will put her in the oval office is beginning to look irresistible.