If you lived through 1976-1988, and were old enough to have a stake in what was going on, you might see things a little differently.
In the 1970's, things were bad. The economy was way down, unemployment was up, inflation was skyrocketing, the Cold War was still hot and we were looking like the losers, there were gas lines and gas rationing and all kinds of crap. The news talked about "the misery index". We had no national pride on the whole; collectively we had a very negative view of America's future.
In the Iran revolution, the Ayatollah took hundreds of Americans hostage and held them for over a year, while we did virtually nothing. We looked weak to the world, and to ourselves.
Jimmy Carter was Prez. He gave away the Panama Canal, compromised away many of our potential strengths with the Soviets, and utterly failed to deal with the economy and the energy/fuel crisis. For most of a year he did nothing, NOTHING about the US hostages in Iran, then in the final months of his term he sponsored a rescue mission that was a dismal failure.
If you DIDN'T live through those years, you'll have a hard time understanding what an incredibly depressing period that was, and how negative people were. Predictions that The End Was Nigh were rampant. As a nation, we felt like we had lost our way entirely.
Then came Ronald Reagan, speaking of a vision, "a shining city on a hill", boldly talking of reclaiming American exceptionalism, turning around the economy, and putting the fear of America back into our enemies.
The economy improved. Jobs were created. Fuel costs went down. The 70's "Energy crisis" proved to be little more than fraud. The Iranians released our hostages: everybody said "They don't want to mess with Reagan!" We kicked some ass here and there that needed kicking.
Reagan stood up to the Soviets and made them believe that by God, they were not going to push America around.
There was a renewed sense of national pride, and a renewed belief in America's future. For those of you who did not live through it, I simply cannot explain to you what a huge difference Reagan made. It was like the difference between walking in darkness and then someone switched on the light. We could see a light at the end of the tunnel and it wasn't an oncoming train.
Reagan gave a nearly-beaten nation hope.
Was he perfect? No, of course not. But he will always be one of the great presidents of my lifetime, to me, because of the difference he made.
G.