Cato's Gene Healy goes where no one has gone before, striving valiantly to kind of rehabilitate the record of Jimmy Carter

In 1978, hampered by post-Prohibition regulations, the United States had all of 44 breweries. "It doesn't get any better than this," the famous Old Milwaukee commercials assured us — and it wouldn't have, if it weren't for Jimmy Carter signing legislation legalizing craft brewing.

Today, "Joe Six-Pack" can choose from more than 1,400 domestic brewers. Conservative tipplers ought to raise a stein to Jimmy, thanking him that we're not still swilling Stroh's coast-to-coast.

Why, then, does our 39th president fare so poorly in the presidential rankings?

Carter-bashers seem obsessed with style over substance: that Mr. Rogers sweater, the "malaise" speech, Carter's sanctimonious, unlovable public persona — the way he seemed to personify national decline.

People want the illusion of control: a comforting, competent father-protector at the helm of our national destiny — and Carter couldn't fake that role as well as most presidents before or since.

Liberals downgrade the Carter presidency as one short on transformative visions: It brought no New Deals, no New Frontiers. Instead, at its best, the Carter legacy was one of workaday reforms that made significant improvements in American life: cheaper travel and cheaper goods for the middle class. Ironically enough, the president you'd never want to have a beer with brought you better beer — and much else besides.