President Ford wins re-election in '76 by better selling the idea that we were recovering from the rather serious '75 recession, which also has the virtue of largely being true.
And then he promotes the idea that you've got to start with the status quo. I mean, what the hell else are you going to start with? And you improve things by taking a medium step and seeing how it works out. Maybe he says in ATL: You can't lead people from three miles down the road. And let's suppose this really catches people's imagination.
Contrast this with OTL where many, probably most, Republicans love the phrase "The Reagan Revolution."
And Democrats become known as the party advocating big sweeping change all at once.
How does this play out?