All of politics is illusory (optics). Gerald Ford failed to win against Carter largely because he pardoned Richard Nixon (Ford was awarded posthumously the JFK “Profiles in Courage” award for doing just that). I never voted for Nixon. I did vote for Ford, and was berated by most people I knew because “he pardoned Richard Nixon!”. Also, do you really think the electorate paid attention to who was in charge of the Fed in November of 1980? Tell me, who did you vote for in 1972? We’re you even around then?
Two misrepresentations of the truth here. 1) Inflation ballooned to 19% under Carter, a big reason why he didn’t get re-elected and Reagan won (“there you go again…”).
2) Clinton was able to balance the budget because of the dot-com bubble, which was illusory (or did you forget?).
Who decided that the hat should be red? The colorist, or the cartoon artist? Will those that read old fashioned B/W newspapers “get it”? Nope. Only “dinosaurs” read old fashioned newspapers.
Like rhinovirus, there is no “cure” for covid. Get over it. Just another pathogen to add to the list.