Carter had other missteps. Friendly to the communist Soviet Union for years and even negotiating the SALT II arms reduction treaty with it (which the Senate refused to ratify), Carter was then embarrassed when the Soviet Union brutally invaded Afghanistan in 1980. Carter responded weakly by merely boycotting the Summer Olympics in Moscow (and the Soviet Union retaliated four years later by boycotting the Summer Olympics in Los Angeles). Carter also ran the economy into the ground, allowing record-high inflation and then accusing the American people of having a "national malaise." It is easy to see why Carter lost reelection in 1980. | Carter had other missteps. Friendly to the communist Soviet Union for years and even negotiating the SALT II arms reduction treaty with it (which the Senate refused to ratify), Carter was then embarrassed when the Soviet Union brutally invaded Afghanistan in 1980. Carter responded weakly by merely boycotting the Summer Olympics in Moscow (and the Soviet Union retaliated four years later by boycotting the Summer Olympics in Los Angeles). Carter also ran the economy into the ground, allowing record-high inflation and then accusing the American people of having a "national malaise." It is easy to see why Carter lost reelection in 1980. |