It took Jimmy Carter to make Nixon look good and Obama to make him look near-perfect. The one in terms of relative intelligence; the other in terms of respect for truth.
When Jimmy Carter was president an average of 2,600,000 jobs were created every year. Under Ronald Reagan that declined to 2,000,000 jobs created per year.
Bush On Jobs: The Worst Track Record On Record - Real Time Economics - WSJ
The highest unemployment under Jimmy Carter was 7.8 percent. Under Reagan it was 10.8 percent. The highest it has been under President Obama was 10.0 percent.
http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/data/UNRATE.txt
When Carter was president there was a mild recession that lasted six months. When Reagan was president there was a much deeper recession that lasted sixteen months.
http://www.nber.org/cycles.html
When Carter was president the national debt as a percentage of gross domestic product was paid down. When Reagan was president it more than doubled.
History of the United States public debt - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Reagan was a more successful president than Carter. He succeeded in making the rich richer while leaving most Republicans with the delusion that tax cuts generate more economic growth than tax increases. Nevertheless, Carter was a better president for the reasons I listed.